March 25, 2008

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (UWIRE) --

It's almost here for Penn State.

After playing its first 27 games on the road, the Penn State softball team will finally play a home game this week.

But first, the Nittany Lions will travel one more time, for a doubleheader against Bucknell at 3 p.m. today at the Varsity Softball Field in Lewisburg.

Although they have not played at home yet this season, the players have not given much thought to homefield advantage.

"I still feel like it's far away," pitcher/infielder Jackie Hill said at practice last week.

"But it's exciting to have fans actually."

In Bucknell (5-15), the Lions will face an opponent that has struggled this season. Before a sweep of Coppin State last weekend, Bucknell had lost 11 of its last 12 games.

However, Penn State (19-8) will not be looking past the Bison despite their poor record.

Last season, the Lions split a doubleheader with the Bison, dropping a wild game in the nightcap. In that game, the Lions allowed Bucknell to score eight unanswered runs to win 8-7.

"They know they have to play the games that are directly in front of them," Penn State coach Robin Petrini said.

"I haven't even begun to look at their statistics. We'll focus on us. We're not worried about them."

Petrini said Sunday she is looking for the team to continue to build upon the positive strides it has made recently.

The Lions have won seven straight games and are coming off a weekend in which they posted their two highest offensive outputs of the season against Miami (Ohio) and Youngstown State.

Today will also begin a stretch of eight games in six days, which will include a doubleheader at home tomorrow against St. Francis (Pa.), as well as doubleheaders with Purdue and Indiana to open the Big Ten season this weekend.

The midweek games will become the norm once the conference season begins.

The team will have midweek non-conference games scheduled around its Big Ten contests every week from now until the Big Ten tournament in May. Petrini said the increased pace would benefit the team.

"Kids love games," she said. "They would rather play a game than practice."

(C) 2008 Daily Collegian via UWIRE