Lady Sluggers to battle Purdue for last place

The basement of the Big Ten softball world is overcrowded. Four teams are sharing the cellar, but at least one will be escaping after this weekend.

Penn State and Purdue, two of these last-place teams, face off in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. tomorrow and at noon Sunday at Lady Lion Field. The two teams are in similar situations, after losing their first three Big Ten games last weekend and defeating in-state, non-league rivals this week.

The Lady Lions (19-11, 0-3 Big Ten) are coming off a week that saw them lose three games to Indiana last weekend and then defeat Bucknell twice on Wednesday. Penn State will look to use what it's learned in the past week to come up with its first conference wins.

"Purdue is a young team trying to get better," Penn State coach Robin Petrini said. "I expect us to come out with a few Ws."

The Boilermakers (22-15, 0-3) also are looking for their first Big Ten wins. They were swept last weekend by Iowa before rebounding Wednesday to defeat Indiana State twice.

Purdue has eight returning starters from a squad that finished a school-best 36-21 last season. The team is led by sophomore Kristie Boland (.368 batting average, 5 home runs) at the plate.

The Purdue pitching staff is spearheaded by two juniors, Sheryl Scheve and Jenny Deno. Complementing this duo is freshman pitcher Crystal Inman, Indiana's Miss Softball last year after winning 59 games and compiling a 0.60 ERA during her high school career.

One area both teams excel is on the base paths. Purdue has stolen 41 bases on 46 tries this season, while the Lady Lions also have consistently kept their opponents off-balance with their base stealing.

When Petrini arrived in State College one of her goals was to improve the Lady Lions' base running. Her success is evident, looking at the fact that Susannah Forde's 24 stolen bases this season equal the team's total from last season.

The team also has improved its ability to put runs on the board early. This has presented a problem for the Lady Lions, though, because they have gotten complacent after getting early leads.

"Last year we didn't score until late in the game, so this year our goal is to score early," Penn State senior Jennifer Accordino said. "But then we get happy after we score in the first inning. We have to stay intense the whole game."

Penn State jumped out to early leads twice against Indiana only to see both games slip away. The team has been working this week to avoid a repeat performance against Purdue.

"We led early and then waited for the game to be over," Petrini said. "We need to aggressively pursue the game this week. We need to maintain the intensity and keep our focus."