The Penn State softball team won the Kia Classic Championship.

Well, not exactly, the Nittany Lions (14-9) won the classic's consolation title, with a 7-1 win against No. 18 Nebraska (20-8).

Penn State won four out of six games it played in the classic. After losing two of their first three games to DePaul (8-10) and No. 14 Washington (16-9), the Lions ripped off three straight to win the consolation bracket.

Sunday evening's consolation championship game was Penn State's second win against the Cornhuskers in the tournament. The Lions pulled out a 3-2 extra-innings victory on Friday. Penn State was led by the table-setters of their line-up -- freshman leadoff hitter and infielder Jen Acunto and sophomore outfielder Meghan Wolfer -- that went 6-for-7 and were responsible for six of the Lions nine hits.

Acunto has been a tremendous find for Penn State. The Hollywood, Fla., native is hitting .405 with two homeruns and 15 RBIs. Acunto is one of four freshmen that have made an immediate impact on the Lions. She is joined by right-handed pitchers/first basemen Ashley Esparza and Jenn Reynolds, along with catcher/outfielder Hollee Haines.

Esparza and Reynolds are a combined 6-4 and have hit .391 and .341, respectively. Add in Haines and the four youngsters are responsible for driving in 56 of Penn State's 95 runs on the season (59 percent).

On the mound, junior right-handed pitcher Missy Beseres (8-5), the Lions only veteran pitcher, picked up three of the Lions four victories this weekend. The 5-foot-11 native of Golden Valley, Minn., has an 1.39 earned run average and has struck out 107 hitters in 75 2/3 innings of work.

Beseres pitched a tremendous game in relief in the first game against Nebraska. She relived Esparza, who had no walks in four-innings of work and received a no-decision. Beseres threw four inning of two-hit softball, striking out six while walking three en route to her sixth win of the season.

It took the Lions 33 games to reach the 14-win mark last season. This is also the latest that the Lions have been plus .500 since being 13-10 on March 21, 2003 after an 8-0 win against Robert Morris.

A Tremendous Feat

Arizona pitcher Alicia Hollowell (15-1) pitched a perfect game and a no-hitter over the weekend. The perfect game was Hallowell's third of the season.