Off the ball
Poor play earns lady sluggers 1-3 weekend against Indiana

By LAWRENCE R.V. POTTER
Collegian Sports Writer

Last spring, the softball team began its Big Ten season with a four-game series against the Indiana Hoosiers, and Indiana swept Penn State.

Over the weekend, the Lady Lions again began their Big Ten season in Indiana. And the trip to the Indiana heartland was still unpleasant.

The teams split two games yesterday with Penn State (11-10, 1-3 Big Ten) taking the first game, 1-0 and Indiana (11-11, 3-1) winning the second, 10-5. Saturday belonged to the Hoosiers, who won both games, 8-0 and 8-2.

One bright spot was Penn State's Heidi Hanna, who pitched a complete game shutout against the Hoosiers in the first game yesterday. The junior allowed only five Hoosier hits, striking out five to help Penn State to its only win of the weekend.

Yesterday's nightcap was a slugfest, as Penn State collected 12 hits and Indiana 13. But in the all-important run column, the Hoosiers held the 10-5 edge --which might have been different had Penn State driven in some of the 11 runners it left on base.

The 16 hits the Lady Lions collected yesterday more than quadrupled their Saturday output of three. The lack of offense Saturday spelled defeat for the Lady Lions in their first afternoon of regular-season Big Ten action.

"We didn't get good pitching and we didn't have any bats," Coach Sue Rankin said. "We had three hits in two games and they had 24. Obviously, if you don't hit you can't win . . . They hit one through nine (batters), we hit none."

The highlight of the doubleheader on Saturday for the Lady Lions was freshman first baseman Shannon Salsburg's fourth-inning home run in the second game. After junior Jill Cowen walked, Salsburg launched Hoosier pitcher Gina Ugo's first offering over the left-center portion of the outfield fence.

"Our coaches told us that she (Ugo) was putting the first pitch right down the middle of the plate," Salsburg said. "So I went up there and looked for it."

The Indiana batters went up looking for the right pitch too, as they pounded out 16 hits alone in the second game on Saturday. That was a bit surprising, as Penn State's starting pitchers -- Jennifer Hippo and Gypsy Gooding --who had performed very well in some games earlier this season, didn't.

Hippo gave up seven earned runs and six hits over only 3 2/3 innings. Gooding walked five and allowed seven earned runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings.

But Salsburg said that the entire Lady Lion team is to blame for the losses on Saturday.

"We didn't play like we could have," she said. "Indiana is a really good team and I don't want to take anything away from them, but we didn't execute."