Ah, yes -- contrary to many opinions nicknames are everything, especially if you are the Kent State softball team. All the Lady Flashes could do yesterday afternoon was flash in and out of Happy Valley -- with nothing to show for their efforts.
Penn State finally broke its nine-game losing streak by winning both non-conference games against Kent State. It won the first, 3-2, and the second, 4-0, raising its record to 8-19 overall.
In the first game, the Lady Lions didn't waste much time getting on the board.
In the bottom of the second, Ellie Traino led off the inning with a double, and scored on Dawn Hoover's single, to make it 1-0. Hoover advanced to second on leftfielder Cyndi Urban's throwing error to home.
Dana Burns followed with a ground ball to the shortstop, Gina Riggerio, who watched it go between her legs, moving Hoover over to third. On the next pitch, Burns and Hoover successfully tried a delayed double steal to make the score 2-0, only to watch Kent State come back in the third.
"It is finally nice to see our hitting improve," said coach Sue Rankin. "Hopefully, that will carry on to this weekend's series with Iowa."
With two out in the third inning, the Lady Flashes hit four consecutive singles and, coupled with a two-base error by Traino, tied the score at two.
Then, in the bottom of the inning, Urban got caught flat-footed on a ball hit by Julie Shalom. The shot bounced off Urban's glove and rolled for a three-base error.
Centerfielder Denise Oswald followed with a single to score Shalom, making the score 3-2, ending the scoring for both teams.
"Our defense was definitely lacking at crucial times in this game," Kent State coach Sue Lilley said.
The Lady Lions were finally able to break out of their hitting slump, getting back-to-back hits in more than one inning for the first time in eight games, while committing only two errors in the first game, and none in the second.
Add to that solid pitching performances by Hoover in the first game, and Leigh Bakun in the second, to make this the first series this season that everything has come together for the team.
"We all hung in there when we were struggling," Bakun said. "We didn't get down on ourselves and we kept our enthusiasm up, which helped us through it."
In the second game the Lady Lions again started the scoring in the bottom of the second, when Hoover reached base on a fielder's choice, and scored when Burns hit a double into the gap in right-center.
In the bottom of the third, Penn State added another run, when Oswald singled and scored on an error by Ruggerio.
The Lady Lions added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, to make the lead insurmountable for Kent State at 4-0.
Kent State never really threatened in the second game, managing just two hits over seven innings.
"We decided that the first part of the season was done and we had a whole second half to play -- and I hope that winning the first two is just a start," Rankin said.
