Last weekend, the goal was to bounce back from five straight losses. This weekend, the goal is to keep the comeback going.

The Nittany Lions (7-7) will make their second trip to California to compete in the Fresno State Bulldog Classic starting today against Colorado State at 4:30 p.m. in Fresno, Calif. The three-day tournament will also include games against Brigham Young, Toledo and Fresno State.

Just a few days removed from capturing the title at the Miken Classic, Penn State will be on the road once again for its last tournament on March 15 in Fullerton, Calif. The Judi Garman Classic will include Cal State-Fullerton, DePaul and No. 8 Texas.

Although the team has shown a lot of excitement getting into the swing of the season, a lot of players will miss traveling across as the tournament season concludes and the Big Ten season begins. Like most northern teams, Penn State has traveled to much warmer conditions to get game-time experience.

"The team definitely loves going to California," sophomore Kayce Zielinski said. "Half of our team is from California, so it's great for them to see their parents and going home. But we love the warm weather, so that's amazing. Warm weather is definitely a plus."

The Lions got an early look at Fresno State at the Palm Springs Tournament two weeks ago. The Bulldogs managed only three hits to the Lions' four, but they were still able to win the pitchers' dual in a 1-0 victory.

Along with Fresno State, Cal-Fullerton and DePaul are receiving votes in the rankings, leaving a tough road ahead.

"There are no weak teams in the [Judi Garman] tournament," Penn State coach Robin Petrini said. "It's a very, very good tournament. We'll see how [much] progress we've made since the last time we went out to Palm Springs and there were no lightweight [teams]."

The progression is going well in Petrini's eyes, and she's happy with her team's early-season performance. Last weekend's competition showed a lot of good things that Penn State lacked in its previous trip, Petrini said.

With junior Ashley Esparza most likely back to full force after an injury, the pitching staff is intact once again. The Lions' offense also showed new life, scoring 30 runs in its five games in the Miken Classic.

"We did a great job while we were down there handling the ball," Petrini said. "We had runners in different situations, and we did well with that. Our pitchers got on track, and our hitters keep producing so that's the key."

Petrini had a few goals this early in the season. She wanted her pitchers to get in some good work, and wanted everyone "getting on track offensively and defensively." After a couple of rough performances and setbacks, the Lions have fought their way to a .500 record. More than anything else, last weekend provided a moral victory.

"We did a very good job as a team in coming back from those losses [in Palm Springs]," Zielinski said. "We showed that we could come back with heart and pride and come back at it."