The softball team will try to prove that it is a better team than its 2-15 record indicates when the squad travels to Columbus for the Ohio State Invitational today and tomorrow.

"They know that what they did on the west coast is not indicative of what they can do here, and they can't wait to show that," Coach Sue Rankin said.

"Our record is deceiving," co-captain Donna Devanney said. "We're a better team than that. We've had two weeks since our last game, and we're definitely ready to start playing."

The Lady Lions, in their first game since Mar. 5, open the five-team round robin tournament with two games today against host Ohio State at 10 a.m. and Dayton at 2 p.m. The squad will play a pair of games tomorrow, against Ball State at 8 a.m. and Indiana State at 2 p.m. The team with the best record after tomorrow's games will win the tournament.

"After playing for a solid week and a half and coming back and not being able to play, because of weather or unscheduled events, just getting out on the field to play is something they are looking forward to," Rankin said.

Cathy Kaminski will start in the opener this morning, and Kim Corbin will pitch the second game, Assistant Coach Beth Perine said. The pair will pitch in the same order tomorrow.

"They have speed in the top of their order and a few kids who can hit the ball pretty well, but I think (Kaminski) is smart enough to pitch around those people, and I look for her to win that game," said Perine about the Ohio State game. "The first couple batters can run-bunt and slap-bunt. It's just going to be a matter of throwing strikes and keeping them off base."

One of the team's greatest problems this season has been scoring runs. The Lady Lions have a .201 team batting average, but Rankin thinks the telling statistic is the 94 runners Penn State has left on base.

"I think the batting average doesn't show how we hit the ball," Rankin said. "We were hitting line drives at people, but our biggest problem was leaving people stranded on base."

The Lady Lions will also have to tighten up a defense that committed 43 errors during the western swing. The return of freshman Allison Nave, who will start at shortstop, should tighten up the infield. With Nave at shortstop, freshman Joyce Tinner, who handled those duties on the spring trip, will move to second base.

"Allison and Joyce work really well together," Rankin said. "They can turn a double play like they've been playing together for 25 years."

"I'm surprised we work so well so soon," Nave said. "We've only started playing together this season, and we're very fluent."

Although 11 of the 15 players on the roster are either freshmen or sophomores, the head coach thinks the early season playing time will be a plus.

"I think they've got the experience," Rankin said. "Now is the time to let what they learned in Arizona and at practice come to the fore and execute that in game situations."