Overall, it was a good beginning for the Penn State softball team yesterday.

Even though Lady Lion pitcher Anje Schwab walked the first Robert Morris batter she faced, the freshman recovered and induced two groundball outs. She also struck out a Colonial batter to end the half-inning in Penn State's first scrimmage of the season.

At that point the offense took over. Co-captain Cathy Boyd began the Lady Lions' 1995 offensive campaign with an infield hit, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by co-captain Rebecca Wisnoff and scored on a double-steal.

Hitting and aggressive base running by the Lady Lions allowed them to defeat Robert Morris 2-0 and 4-2 in two scrimmages at Holuba Hall. Boyd led the offensive show by collecting two hits and stealing two bases. She was joined in the hit parade by teammates Kelley Sax, Jill Cowen, Susannah Forde and Shannon Salsburg.

Salsburg had a monsterous shot to left center in the first scrimmage that was ruled a ground-rule double. It might have been a homerun if the teams had played outside.

"Throughout the lineup we put the ball in play -- that was nice," Coach Sue Rankin said. "It wasn't like one person had to have all of the weight to produce."

Rankin also got solid outings from her pitchers, Schwab and Gypsy Gooding. Schwab did not allow the Colonials to score a run, and Gooding surrendered only two first-inning runs in the second game.

The Lady Lions seemed to run at will on the basepaths, which was one of their goals heading into this season. Boyd and Jennifer Accordino had two stolen bases and the team successfully executed two double steals in the first scrimmage.

The day was especially rewarding for Boyd. After hitting in the bottom half of the order last season, the senior leftfielder moved up in the lineup to the lead-off position and got on base often to help her team win.

"I felt really good out there," she said. "I just went out and did my job. Everything worked -- I hit the ball and it came through for me."