If nothing else, the Akron Zips were loose before their doubleheader against the Penn State softball team yesterday.

Before the Nittany Lions came to bat for the first time, the zips outfield of Becky Santonastaso, Becky Stern and Carrese Moody, performed a little choreographed dance to the rap that was bumping on the Nittany Lion Field speakers.

The Zips bench kept up a constant stream of chatter throughout both games, pulling out little-league classics like, "she doesn't want to swing," and "everybody hits," while singing songs for seemingly every player that came to the plate.

Unfortunately for the Zips, their little-league enthusiasm transferred into little-league quality defense on the field, and Penn State took both ends of the doubleheader, 9-1 and 10-4.

With the pair of wins, the Nittany Lions improved to 30-18 on the year.

In the first game, Penn State put Akron away in the bottom of the sixth when Ashley Esparza ripped a ball down the first baseline that ate up first baseman Kelly Quigley. Two runs scored on the error, putting Penn State over the eight-run mercy rule.

The final score was lopsided, but the final stat sheet was remarkably close. Penn State only outhit Akron eight to five, but the Lions were able to capitalize on their chances while the Zips did zip with theirs.

Penn State only left four runners on base, not counting Esparza who was on first when the game ended, and three of those that were stranded came when freshman catcher Hollee Haines popped out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth.

Haines more than made up for the miscue though, driving in four runs in the contest, including a pair of first-pitch home runs.

"The first pitch is usually the best," Haines said. "I was just kind of swinging."

Haines drilled a line drive over the right field wall in the second, and followed with another bomb, this time pulled to the left center power alley in the third.

The only thing to mar Haines' day was the ribbing she took from her teammates after getting gunned at the plate in the first inning of game two.

"We always joke around with each other," Haines said. "I'm not the fastest person, so they like to kid around with me."

Missy Beseres picked up her 13th win of the season in the game, striking out five and walking only two in a workman-like effort.

And then the madness started.

Penn State had two runners thrown out at the plate in the first two innings alone of the second game. Two runs were scored on wild pitches. One run scored on a hit batter. Another scored on a walk. The sixth inning took upwards of 40 minutes.

Of the 14 runs that were scored, only two were earned.

Akron's shoddy defense cost them early, and Penn State jumped out to a 2-0 lead that they would nearly squander with sloppy play of their own in the interminable top of the sixth. The Zips committed multiple errors in the second, fifth and sixth innings, and a ludicrous seven in the game.

Penn State also struggled to field the ball behind game two pitcher Esparza, who picked up the win despite losing steam in the sixth. The Lions committed two errors of their own, but the Zips wasted an early scoring chance when Sara Zilles got thrown out attempting to steal second and Stern struck out, stranding a runner on third.

"The second one did get a little bit sloppy, but we still generated a lot of offense," Penn State coach Robin Petrini said. "We scored runs when we needed to score runs which I was pleased with.

"To come into today and beating a reasonable opponent it's important."