Improved lady sluggers play solid over weekend

It was a weekend of firsts for the Penn State softball team. The team traveled to East Carolina to play in the Lady Pirate Classic for its first games of the season.

This was also the first opportunity for the Lady Lions to play outdoors and the first games under new coach Robin Petrini.

The results were promising. Penn State finished the weekend 3-1, losing in the quarterfinals by one run to George Mason.

The Lady Lions breezed through round robin play Friday and Saturday, defeating Towson State, Canisius and Radford before stumbling in tournament play Sunday.

"I thought the first two days we played fantastic," Petrini said. "(Sunday) I tightened up and went conservative. I kind of crippled our offense."

That is evidenced by the Lady Lions only scoring one run in that last game after scoring five runs in each of their first three. Petrini took responsibility for the loss, saying she thought the team played well enough to win.

Penn State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead against George Mason but let the Patriots tie the score at 1. The game remained knotted and went into an extra inning. The teams are allowed to put a runner on second base during the extra frame, and George Mason managed to score the winning run.

Freshman Jaci Kalp pitched her first game for the Lady Lions against the Patriots, striking out eight and walking one.

"I was nervous starting out the game, because it was my first college game," Kalp said. "But toward the middle of the game I wasn't nervous anymore."

The rest of the Penn State team shook off the nerves and the rust in the first inning of its first game against Towson State on Friday. The team came out on fire, scoring five runs in the opening inning, which was enough support for pitcher Anje Schwab.

In its second game, Penn State defeated Canisius by the same score, 5-1. The Lady Lions finished with nine hits, and they managed to score three runs in the second inning. Canisius won the tournament by beating East Carolina, 4-0, in the final.

Penn State finished round-robin play undefeated by dropping Radford on Saturday, 5-0. Sara Henick pitched a complete game and gave up only four hits and one walk.

The Lady Lions showed improvement from last year in many areas. They stole 11 bases, after stealing 24 all last season. But Petrini still feels there are areas to improve, especially when it comes to clutch hitting.

"We need to continue to hit," she said, "and come through in RBI situations."