It has been something of a Jekyll-and-Hyde season for the Penn State Beaver Campus softball team.

When the Lions are focused, they are good ... very good. But when they make mistakes they are, well, bad.

That explains, how Penn State Beaver could enter the Penn State University Athletic Conference tournament last week as the No. 1 seed and then proceed to lose consecutive games, 8-4 and 5-4.

"I guess we were a bit nervous," coach Andy Kirschner said. "We didn't field the way we have been. It was tough.

"But it has been an up-and-down season for us. When we lose our focus that's what happens. When we are focused, we're as good as any team around."

Penn State Beaver, which is 23-22 overall and 19-3 in the PSUAC, has an opportunity this weekend to make up for the disappointing performance in Williamsport, Pa.. The Lions are in the eight-team United States Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament in DeCatur, Ill.

The tournament gets under way at 9 a.m. tomorrow with pool play. Penn State Beaver will play three games, taking on Southern Virginia in the morning, defending champions Saint Mary of the Woods in the afternoon and Spalding in the evening.

Two teams from each of the two pools advance to the double-elimination championship round. The others play for the bottom four spots.

"We have a chance to do well if we play up to our capabilities," said Kirchner, whose team is seeded sixth. "We went to the tournament last year and placed fifth, but I think we were a little star struck. The fact most of our players were on that team and have been through this should help."

Kirschner entered the season with high expectations. He lost just two players from last year's squad that went 36-11 and was second in the PSUAC tournament.

Hitting has been the Lions strong suit. It took a .400 team batting average into the national tournament at the Borg Warner Softball Complex. Third baseman Jamie Clouse, a Laurel High School product, leads the way with a .460 average.

Others with averages above .400 include catcher Alonna Verrico of Rochester (.420), shortstop Melissa Swoager of South Side Beaver (.410) and first baseman Brittany Moore of Aliquippa and the Pennsylvania Charter School (.410).

South Side Beaver graduate Kayla Chambers, a freshman, has been the team's top pitcher. Samantha Neely of Northgate High and Chelsea Brownlee of Avella also have seen time in the circle. Brownlee, a sophomore, usually starts in left.

The other starters are Riverside High graduate Becky Garcia at second, Taylor Rzeczkowski from Highlands High in right field and Jessica McWilliams from Butler in center field. Garcia and Moore are the only senior starters.

Kirchner, a New Brighton native, has established a solid program. He is the athletic director at Penn State Beaver and is in his seventh season as the softball coach.

"When I came here, I thought I'd end up coaching basketball or maybe baseball. I'd never coached softball before," he said. "They had an opening for an assistant AD who just happened to also be the softball coach. I applied for the job and when I got it, I was told that, 'Oh, by the way you're also the softball coach.'"

He didn't know much about softball at first, but he has learned over the years.

"You'd think softball and baseball are alike, but there's completely different strategy involved," he said.

Kirchner has also had opportunities to shift sports -- he is the boss, after all -- but has stayed with softball.

"At first I thought I'd do it for a couple of years and then go to baseball or basketball," he said. "I could have gone to baseball this year, but I decided against it and now I think I'm in it [coaching softball] for the long haul."

One reason might be because he knows how far the program has advanced. His first season as head coach the Lions were 1-14.

"Even though we weren't very good, the players I had were great," he said. "They're still that way."

With such a young team, Kirschner sees continued success. He said the fact Penn State Beaver is winning also makes recruiting easier.