The pitching was on, the offense was rolling and the defense was flawless.

And that translated into something the Penn State softball team hadn't experienced in more than two weeks.

Winning.

After dropping seven straight games, the Nittany Lions rebounded by shutting out Bucknell (8-26, 2-6 Patriot League) in a doubleheader last night, 3-0 and 8-0.

"It feels good to end our losing streak and gives us confidence going into the Big Ten," first basemen Jenn Reynolds said. "We're hoping to build off of it."

The offense was slow to come around the first game, but pitching and defense put on quite a show. Heading into the second inning of the second game, Penn State retired 26 straight batters -- 10 of which were set down on strikes. For third basemen Destinie Chavez, walking off the field with a sweep -- even from lowly Bucknell -- meant a lot to a team that's had its recent share of struggles.

"It just felt like it was right," Chavez said. "It felt like that's what we should be doing."

And after allowing 12 runs to Illinois over the weekend, the pitching staff finally met its own high expectations -- Missy Beseres and Ashley Esparza combined for 17 Ks, three hits, no walks and no runs. On offense, Esparza single-handedly accounted for a trio of hits and three RBI.

Reynolds said she was supposed to see some time as pitcher, but she didn't seem to mind about the game ending early.

"I was supposed to get those last two innings, but I'd take the mercy rule over that," she said with a laugh. "It's always nice to have a big lead."

Beseres set the bar high in the opening game. Bucknell's leadoff hitter smacked a single. After that, though, the Bison didn't so much as get on base until the second game.

Bucknell still played a respectable first game -- but the second was simply an embarrassment.

The Bison finished with twice as many errors (4) as they did hits (2). And four was pretty generous. In the third inning, Penn State hit a soft ground ball back to the pitcher. Someway, somehow, the pitcher didn't get to it -- it just rolled on by, practically inching its way to the second basemen.

The turnaround is clearly important to a Penn State squad that needs confidence heading into this Big Ten weekend. Chavez said Lions coach Robin Petrini said a few words that she took to heart. While Chavez wouldn't go into detail, she did say the talk helped.

"Things weren't really going our way the last couple weekends, but Coach gave us a good pep talk before the game to pretty much just go out there and fight," Chavez said.

The Lions (23-11, 1-7 Big Ten) are hoping things continue to go their way Friday when they host Minnesota.