Lady sluggers play next games close to home

The Penn State softball team gets a break from airports, hotels and eating out on its road trip today. The team also will take a breather from Big Ten play when it travels Route 45 to play Bucknell in a doubleheader.

The Lady Lions are looking to rebound from a weekend during which they dropped three games to Indiana. Penn State also is using its game against the Bison as preparation for its games this weekend with Purdue. The team is careful not to look past Bucknell, though.

"We have to take one game at a time," Lady Lion Marisa Marucci. "We have to stay focused and play our game."

The Bison don't quite measure up to the level of Big Ten competition, Marucci said. But she knows they will be looking to knock off the Lady Lions.

The decrease in the level of opponent presents an interesting problem for Penn State. Marucci said the speed of pitching they have gotten used to from facing teams like the Hoosiers is much faster than that the Bison hurlers throw.

"You get kind of anxious, and you are always trying to swing for the fences," she said.

Bucknell also will be swinging for the fences. The Bison had seven extra base hits in a 10-2 win over George Mason last weekend in splitting the series with the Patriots.

Penn State struggled to drive in runs against Indiana. This and clutch hitting are two areas the Lady Lions feel they need to improve in.

"We need to focus on what we can do, like the little things," Penn State coach Robin Petrini said. "We need to execute on our scoring opportunities. We just need to keep improving ourselves."

The Lady Lion pitching staff of Anje Schwab, Jaci Kalp, Sara Henick and Jen Hippo also is looking to improve on the performance of last weekend. Kalp and Schwab were the pitchers who suffered the losses last weekend, but the whole staff is looking to learn from its mistakes.

"Hopefully, we learned a lot from this weekend," Schwab said after the losses to Indiana. "Everyone brings something different to the table. We need to mix and match well."

This will be the last chance the Lady Lions get to play a non-conference foe for the three weeks. Purdue comes to town this weekend, followed by Michigan State and Minnesota next week.