The University of Virginia hosted its annual softball tournament this past weekend in Charlottesville, Va. Along with playing on Virginia's "Wahoo" nickname, the invitational is dubbed the Hoo's Who tournament to hint that the overall winner will set itself apart from the pack of competitors.

But this year for the Penn State women's softball team, the tournament was more than just a proving ground for an entire squad, it served as another chance for one of the Nittany Lions to step up and show just who is who among their own roster.

The Lions (11-18) had limped into the regular season dropping 11 of their first 12 games. The young team has had to rely on several starting positions being filled by freshmen, including lead-off batter Jen Williams, since suffering injuries and player departures mid-summer.

After the first day of play in this weekend's tournament, the Lions found themselves on par with most of the other competitors, who split the opening day's games.

A convincing 6-2 win against Binghamton started the morning off on the right foot for Penn State, but a 4-1 decision in favor of N.C. State later that afternoon put the Lions back at 1-1. Only host Virginia was undefeated on the opening day.

The Lions had a rude awaking on Saturday morning when they faced Seton Hall. The Pirates took Penn State pitchers Marisa Hanson and Missy Beseres for 13 total runs scored, and the Lions were only able to register two hits and no runs in the entire game.

While the 13-0 beating surely didn't help Penn State's seeding for Sunday's bracket play, it definitely worked as motivation for Saturday's second round-robin game against Virginia.

Strong defense helped the Lions keep 10 Cavalier hits to just two runs scored.

And Penn State freshmen Jen Williams and right fielder Meghan Wolfer were key in the offensive production with a combined five hits in the 3-2 victory.

But the script was flipped yesterday when bracket play commenced.

A come-from-behind 4-3 victory against Seton Hall propelled Penn State into a semifinal game with Virginia.

With a two-run home run in the third inning from sophomore Leigh Murray, the Lions scored their first two runs, but still trailed by one going into the bottom of the seventh.

Then Murray and junior Scarlett Neal each hit RBI singles to score the closing runs of the game and give the Lions the win.

In the semifinal game yesterday afternoon, the host Cavaliers proved to be too much for the Lions in two team's second meeting. Virginia's Erin Horn pitched a three-hit shutout and teammates Jenn Wynn and Sara Larquier each had home runs in the 5-0 defeat.

Beseres allowed 12 hits, but also managed to strike out six batters in the loss.

For the young Penn State team, the freshmen Williams and Wolfer once again were valuable at No. 1 and 2 positions in the lineup.

And as has been the case since the beginning of March, strong pitching from Hanson and Beseres helped limit opponents' scoring.

But as far as finding a standout among the Lions, it looks like that prospect might just take a little while longer to emerge.