There is an old saying that, " you are only as good as your last game."

For the Penn State women's softball team (1-4) that means things didn't go as bad as they could at the Stanford Invitational. The Nittany Lions salvaged the road trip with a gutsy come from behind victory, 3-2, over Missouri, yesterday. Earlier in the trip the Lions lost to Stanford (10-2) twice, 6-0 and 2-1. They also lost to Missouri (5-5) 3-1 and Kentucky (4-6) 2-1.

The win gave them a third-place finish in the tournament and saw the Lions finally get some timely hitting. A pinch hit triple from sophomore Steph Viola keyed the seventh inning rally. Senior Kelley Galigher led off the inning with a double, but didn't advance or score after junior Barbie Pierce fouled out. After Viola's triple to score Galigher, the Tigers recorded the second out and set the stage for sophomore Mandy Nuxoll. Nuxoll singled to score Viola and gave the Lions their first lead of the tournament. Nuxoll had a good tournament going 7-for-17 at the plate.

Sophomore Tina Skelly (1-2) who came in to finish up the sixth inning, pitched a scoreless seventh to earn the victory in relief. The Lions avenged a 3-1 loss to the Tigers that they suffered in the tournament opener on Friday.

"We are very happy that we won a big game and had some clutch hitting to pull out the win," Penn State softball coach Robin Petrini said.

The Lions also dropped a 6-0 decision to No. 14 Stanford on Friday. The Lions were able to pound out seven hits against senior Tori Nyberg, but couldn't string anything together.

The Cardinal went on to defeat Kentucky, 4-1, in the tournament final behind the combination of Nyberg (7-0) and junior Dana Sorensen. They combined to fan 13 batters.

The Lions also received a taste of the two-time All-American Sorensen in the first round of bracket play. She allowed just three hits en route to a 2-1 victory. Despite the loss, Petrini was pleased with how the Lions battled and said that the game was very well played.

The Lions lost another close contest, 2-1, to Kentucky as the Lions were once again victims of not getting hits when they needed them. Junior Marisa Hanson (0-2) held the Wildcats to three hits and one earned run over seven innings, but an error by the Lions led to one Wildcat run.

"We got better game by game," Petrini said. "Each weekend we got to hope to get better and get clutch hitting."