Lady Sluggers lose to UIC at invite

At the rate they're going, the Penn State softball team is quickly earning a reputation to make Rickey Henderson and Kenny Lofton proud.

The stolen base was once again the key to success for the Lady Lions, who had an impressive showing in the Winthrop University Invi-tational, losing in the semifinals to Illinois-Chicago 2-0 yesterday.

Samantha Iuli shut out the Lady Lions (14-7) for the second time in two days. In the semifinal Iuli gave up just one hit and struck out six. Sara Henick gave up both runs and took the loss for the Lady Lions in four innings of work.

Penn State coach Robin Petrini said Iuli was the best pitcher the club has seen all season. UIC negated the Lady Lion running game, which had over 20 steals through the tournament.

"She did a good job of keeping us off balance," Petrini said. "We'll see a lot of those kinds of pitchers in the Big Ten."

Northeast Louisiana won the tournament by defeating UIC, 2-0. Each club had three players on the all tournament team.

During the single elimination part of the tournament, Penn State defeated Coastal Carolina in the first round, 7-5. The Lady Lions raced out to a 7-0 lead after two innings and held on after a Coastal Carolina rally in the late innings.

In the quarterfinals, Penn State shut out Marshall, 4-0. Anje Schwab went the distance, scattering eight hits. Lady Lion all-tournament selection Jen McIntyre drove in two runs on two hits.

"She just played great," Petrini said about McIntyre. "Her defense is solid (at third base). She is hitting, driving in runs and scoring runs."

Penn State cruised over North Carolina-Wilmington, 10-0, to begin pool play on Friday. Later that day, a two-run home run by Shannon Salsburg in the bottom of the seventh gave the Lady Lions a win against Campbell University, 5-3.

Saturday, Penn State defeated Georgia, 3-1, on a combined four-hitter by Henick and Jaci Kalp. The Lady Lions finished pool play with a loss to UIC, 7-0.

Petrini said the key to the early success for Penn State has been contribution from both starters and reserves.

"We did a lot of things well," she said. "We did some of the things we need to do."