Pittsburgh (15-17) has hovered around the .500 mark all season and is coming off a pair of losses to Big East powerhouse Notre Dame.
At the plate, the Panthers feature only two players who have a batting average above .300 on the season, junior second baseman Francesca DeMaria and sophomore outfielder Megan Howard.
Pittsburgh also lacks prodigious power. The Panthers have hit only six home runs this season, two of which belong to Howard.
Undoubtedly, Penn State's offense has proven to be more consistently potent as the Nittany Lions have
seven players hitting over .300 this spring and have blasted 13 long balls.
Interestingly enough, all 13 home runs belong to Penn State's outstanding freshman class, which is led by shortstop Jen Acunto, who carries a gaudy .391 average into today's games along with five home runs.
Penn State's bats have been hot all year, and they should have no problem with a Panthers pitching staff that basically goes two deep.
Junior Christina Hunter and sophomore Laura Belardinelli both have ERAs below 3.00, but neither has overpowering stuff and the two have combined to strike out only 79 batters in 185.2 innings this season.
Penn State has gotten dominant performances seemingly game-in and game-out from all three players it has put in the pitcher's circle this year.
Freshman Ashley Esparza has the lowest ERA on the staff, a glittering 1.39 in 15 starts, that looks even more impressive when placed next to her .438 batting average. She also holds the best record on the staff, an 8-2 mark.
Senior Missy Beseres, the author of a perfect game against St. Francis last month, is the workhorse of the staff, logging 122.1 innings in 25 appearances.
Beseres has struck out 158 batters this season and held opponents to a .198 batting average.
This will be only the second and third meetings in softball between these two traditional intrastate rivals, as Pittsburgh did not field a varsity team until 1998.
Penn State beat the Panthers 6-2 in the only other game, which took place in 2000.
