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Softball v Rider

The Quakers’ pitching staff appears to be peaking at the right time as it enters its final tune-up before taking on a strong Cornell squad this weekend.

Coming off a season sweep of Princeton, Penn faces city rival Drexel in a contest that will test the Red and Blue’s confidence against the Dragons, heading into their final weeks of Ivy League play.

The pitching staff in particular has been instrumental in gaining that confidence.

“They’re going to look to continue the same mental and physical preparation and repeat the good things that they’ve done,” pitching coach Lisa Sweeney said of her pitchers. “They’re going to stick with what they know works and ride the momentum.”

Junior lefty Cailyn Hennessy, who gave up only one earned run in each game she pitched against Princeton last weekend, attributed the team’s recent success to a change in attitude.

“I think a lot of it coincides with a change in the team dynamic,” Hennessy said. “We need to be more aggressive. The pitching has stepped up to match that.”

Freshman ace Mikenzie Voves, who leads the pitching staff with a 4.12 earned run average and eight wins under her belt so far, echoed Hennessy’s assessment of the Quakers’ confidence.

“We changed our mental approach,” Voves said. “A lot of us were looking too far ahead, and we decided we needed to take it slower, one pitch at a time, one hitter at a time.”

The newfound aggression will certainly help the Quakers (14-16-1, 6-6 Ivy) against Drexel (12-21), which is also experiencing its share of success on the mound.

Both clubs are riding four and three-game winning streaks, respectively.

Dragons junior Hillary Allen was named Co-Pitcher of the Week of her conference after she went 3-0 during the week of April 17 and earned a pair of conference victories, a 1.05 ERA and 23 strikeouts. But Hennessy was quick to point out the Quakers have an advantage that many other team’s don’t: depth in the bullpen.

“There’s five of us, which is a lot more than any other teams have,” she said. “We all work hard together every outing, and you know that if you’re not having your best day, someone else will.”

Hennessy and Voves are supported by seniors Taylor Tieman and Tory Satagaj and sophomore Lindsay Mann in the rotation. But the Quakers’ pitching strength rests most heavily on the front end of the rotation — during last weekend’s set of doubleheaders, Voves and Hennessy combined to throw four complete games.

Despite the pitchers’ contributions to the Quakers’ recent success, neither the pitchers nor the coaches discounted the instrumental role of the offense.

“As a team, they’re really cohesive,” Sweeney said. “The team as a whole really responds when the pitchers are throwing well. One hit usually leads to another and another.”

Sweeney’s assessment of the offense was made all too clear on Sunday, when the Quakers put up 16 combined runs in the doubleheader. Overall, three Quakers are currently hitting over .300, with senior Alisha Prystowsky topping the stat sheet with an .386 batting average and the Ancient Eight’s second-best on-base percentage (.504).

Penn sophomore Samantha Erosa will also be a player to watch after going 6-for-10 against Princeton and improving her season batting average to .333.

The Red and Blue also lead the entire league in on-base percentage (.374) and have scored the second-most runs, averaging just under five runs.

After the offense and pitching clicked last weekend, Penn’s key this week will be its concentration.

“What’s most important is to not even focus on Drexel, but to keep focusing on us and what we’re capable of,” Sweeney said. “And we want to be able to take that to Drexel on Wednesday and Cornell this weekend.”

Voves expressed the same mix of excitement and anticipation.

“Drexel is an important game to keep our momentum going, but Cornell is everyone’s main focus,” Voves said. “If this weekend goes our way, we give ourselves a chance at the Ivy League title.”

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