Lady sluggers split shutouts

By LAWRENCE R.V. POTTER
Collegian Sports Writer

For two weekends in a row, the Penn State softball team played four scrimmages and won them all. But that streak came to an end yesterday.

The Lady Lions got off on the right foot in their season-opening doubleheader against East Carolina, blanking the Lady Pirates 5-0 in the first game. But in the second game, it was the Lady Pirates who gave up no runs, winning 1-0.

In the afternoon's first contest, Penn State freshman pitcher Anje Schwab performed brilliantly. The hurler allowed only two East Carolina hits while walking two and striking out one.

"I kept my team in the game," Schwab said. "As a pitcher, that's what I'm suppossed to do. I let them (opposing hitters) put the ball in play and let the defense behind me take care of the rest."

While Schwab was silencing the Lady Pirate bats, her teammates were providing all the offense she needed. Centerfielder Susannah Forde led the way, collecting two hits in three at bats, scoring one run and stealing a base.

Other Lady Lions getting hits were third and clean-up batters Jill Cowen and Shannon Salsburg. In all, Penn State had a very efficient game offensively -- scoring five runs on seven hits, walking three times and stealing two bases.

"In the first game, we got some good hits," Coach Sue Rankin said. "In the second game, we hit the ball hard but right at people -- like they had velcro in their gloves."

The second game, however, was a stark contrast to the first. Penn State did not score a run and managed only three hits against Lady Pirate freshman pitcher Jami Bendle.

But Lady Lion pitcher Gypsy Gooding held the opposition to only four hits and recorded six strikeouts. Unfortunately for Gooding, the run she gave up in the fourth inning turned out to be the difference.

East Carolina's Sharolyn Strickland, who was two for three in the game, led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a single and eventually came around to score what would be the game's winning -- and only -- run on an error by second baseman Marisa Marucci.

"We've got to score runs earlier," Rankin said. "We want teams to catch up to us rather than us trying to catch up to them. But for our first two games, I thought we played well."

For the Lady Lions, only Cathy Boyd, Cowen and Salsburg were able to hit safely in the second game. With one out in the sixth inning, Salsburg tripled, but the next two batters could not hit her home. Junior shortstop Valerie Serpico hit a fly ball to the shortstop and sophomore rightfielder Jennifer Accordino struck out, as Penn State could not capitalize on its best scoring opportunity of the game.

Note: Penn State has little chance to rest after yesterday's games. The Lady Lions will participate in East Carolina's Lady Pirate Invitational this weekend. Penn State faces Campbell and Big Ten foe Northwestern today. Tomorrow afternoon, the Lady Lions take on St. Francis and Towson State and conclude their play in the tournament on Sunday when they meet Robert Morris.