Softball to try to turn Ivy fortunes

The Quakers, losers of six in a row, host Princeton and Cornell hoping for better outcomes. If the Penn softball team hopes to make some noise in the Ivy League this season, the time to get some wins is definitely right now. The Quakers will try to get their first Ancient Eight win of the year today when they go against Princeton in a home doubleheader. Penn (11-22-1, 0-4) has been struggling offensively of late, scoring only five runs in the last six games, all losses. In its four league contests thus far, the team has totaled a mere four runs. "We definitely know that we're capable of beating Princeton," sophomore Jen Moore said. "But at the same time, we knew we could've beat Drexel, Yale, and Brown, but that just isn't happening." On Wednesday, the Quakers played Drexel in an away doubleheader and dropped both games, 4-1 and 1-0. The highlight of the day for Penn had to be the near no-hit performance turned in by freshman pitcher Dina Parise. Parise, starting in only her third game, showed an impressive array of pitches and took a no-hitter into the last inning. Unfortunately for Parise, her no-hit bid was spoiled when Kelly Donahue led the seventh off with a double. The game was over when Jodi Devine hit a two-out double to drive in the winning run and break the scoreless tie. "I was really pleased with my pitching, and I thought that our defense did an awesome job backing me up," Parise said. "It was a tough loss after holding them hitless for six innings, but I can take away a lot of positives from this." If the Quakers are going to beat Princeton, which stands at 4-0 in the Ivies, they will probably need some great pitching because the Orange and Black will make it difficult to score. Tigers pitcher Brie Galacinao took home last week's Ivy League Player of the Week honors. She helped Princeton start league play off undefeated by getting at least one hit in all four games and allowing no earned runs in two starts and twelve total innings. Despite Penn's offensive difficulties of late, returning first team All-Ivy selection Moore is having a great year with the bat. She is batting a whopping .394 with two homers and 15 RBIs. "I think that our biggest problem is that we always have one aspect of our game missing," Moore said. "One day we'll be hitting and pitching well, but our defense will be poor, and then the next day we'll play well on defense but we won't be able to get any hits." The Quakers will also face Cornell in a double-dip on Sunday afternoon. If Penn can take four straight home games, the Red and Blue could even its Ivy League mark at 4-4. "We seem to be hitting the ball consistently in practice, but when it comes to games we just seem to scatter our hits," Parise said. Cornell has been playing well thus far and stands at 17-5 on the year. The Big Red have played only one league game, however, and were shut out by Harvard, 1-0. Cornell has been potent offensively, with nine players batting at or above .300. "Our intensity needs to be up, and we have to be much more aggressive and really play like we believe in ourselves," Moore said. "We know we have a lot of talent, so it is just a matter of going out there and performing."

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