Lady sluggers blast St. Francis with improved hitting to win 2

By LAWRENCE R.V. POTTER
Collegian Sports Writer

Like the Energizer bunny with a fresh battery stuffed into its back, the yellow softball kept going and going.

It began its journey at home plate, off the bat of Lady Lion first baseman Shannon Salsburg, narrowly eluded the Holuba Hall ceiling and landed well beyond the fence-mark mats on the artificial surface.

The umpire extended his index finger and circled it in the air, signaling a homerun. And Salsburg's teammates ran to greet her at home plate.

Salsburg's shot gave her team a 9-0 lead over St. Francis in the bottom of the fourth inning in the second scrimmage of the day, which Penn State won 11-2. Penn State also hit the ball well in the first scrimmage, beating the Red Flash 8-1.

But Salsburg's two-run homerun was the highlight of Penn State's seven-run fourth inning -- and the afternoon.

"I was just taking a normal swing," said Salsburg, who also had a triple and ground-rule double. "I just got lucky and it went over."

Salsburg was just one of many Lady Lions who took an immediate liking to the St. Francis pitching. In the first scrimmage, rightfielder Kelley Sax had a double to center and a triple to left and Jill Cowen had a single and a double.

This was part of Coach Sue Rankin's plan to string hits together and score runs. Last weekend against Robert Morris, the Lady Lions did not do that. Instead they relied on aggressive base running to score runs.

"They did a great job," Rankin said of her team's hitting show. "We worked a lot on offense this week in putting hits together and trying to get our middle batters --the 3,4,5,6 batters -- to be a little more productive in the RBI situations."

While the Lady Lions' bats teed off on the Red Flash pitching, the Penn State hurlers kept the opposition relatively quiet.

In the first scrimmage, freshman Jennifer Hippo allowed a single to center to the first batter, then struck out the next hitter. She walked the next three -- which allowed the leadoff batter to score. But after that first-inning run, Hippo settled down and did not allow another run the rest of the scrimmage. She finished up with a total of four walks and six strikeouts.

Heidi Hanna and Misty Hackett combined to shut down St. Francis in the second scrimmage. Hanna had four strikeouts and did not surrender a hit in three innings. Hackett allowed only two runs in the sixth after Penn State built a 10-0 lead.

"The three of them did really good jobs," Rankin said. "And now all of our pitchers have some experience going into (the East) Carolina (Tournament) next weekend. And we face the same team again next weekend so it's nice to know we played so well today."

By using pitchers Anje Schwab and Gypsy Gooding last weekend and the aforementioned trio this weekend, Rankin now has a game-experienced pitching staff heading into the season-opening doubleheader against East Carolina on Thursday.