The warm, sunny weather in Palm Springs, Calif., was about the only enjoyable part of the weekend for the Penn State softball team. The collegiate softball powerhouses in the West made sure of it.

The Nittany Lions (0-5) began their season this past weekend on the road when they took on some of the top softball programs in the nation, including four nationally ranked opponents.

The Palm Springs Classic, hosted by Oregon State, featured both the defending NCAA champion UCLA Bruins and last year's national runner-up Arizona Wildcats. This year, those two teams also hold the No. 1 and No. 2 rankings, respectively.

But the Lions had to face No. 6 Georgia and No. 15 Stanford in the four-day tournament, as well.

The primary focus of the weekend for Penn State softball coach Robin Petrini was to gauge her young team's ability. With only two returning starters from last season and a freshman leading off the order, the Classic was to serve a good testing ground against strong opponents.

Though they failed to record one win all weekend, two of the five games proved that the Lions won't have to deal with weekends like this all season.

In Saturday's game against UCLA, the Lions managed to hold the defending champs scoreless until the top of the fourth inning. The Bruins took advantage of two Penn State errors in that inning and went up 3-0.

But the Lions didn't fall too far behind when they had their chance at bat. Outfielder Leigh Murray got on base with a single. Then sophomore Katie Stauffer sent both Murray and herself around the bags with a two-run shot over the left field fence.

The two runs were Penn State's only scores of the game, but the Lions managed to hold the Bruins' scoring to just five runs. Sophomore Missy Beseres earned nine strikeouts in the game.

Yesterday, the Lions had their final match of the Palm Springs Classic, facing off against Stanford. There were only five total hits in the defensive struggle, but the Cardinal got the better of its three and beat the Lions 1-0.

Though the weekend put a serious blemish on Penn State's record, the gritty performances should give the team some sort of confidence heading into the rest of the season.

The only blowout endured in Palm Springs was the 10-0 drubbing from Arizona.