A FRONT ROW VIEW: What was going on out there yesterday?

What can you say about a game like this? With a combined effort of shabby defense, failed hitting, tension among the team and questionable coaching, the Penn softball team didn't have many positive things to say about its defeat at the hands of St. Joseph's. In fact, the Quakers had almost nothing to say at all. Penn coach Linda Carothers refused to comment why she told the team's leading hitter, senior Stacey Thompson –– batting a lofty .394 –– to bunt with runners on second and third with one out down five runs in the third. Trusting Carothers' 15-plus years of coaching at Penn, I assumed she had something up her sleeve. I was wrong. Thompson's bunt was caught by the St. Joe's catcher, who promptly threw out junior co-captain Dawn Kulp at third. Just like that, the Quakers managed to turn a key scoring opportunity into an inning-ending double play. Unfortunately for Penn, that was the least of its problems. In their game one defeat, the Quakers committed five errors, including three in the top of the third. The Hawks scored six runs that inning and nine in the game, only two of which were earned. "When one error builds on another error, it's hard to get back into the game," junior Shannon Hembrough said. The Quakers couldn't get back into the game. Penn managed only one hit in its 9-1 defeat at the hands of St. Joe's. From my front-row seat on the bleachers, I could see that tension was brewing within the Penn dugout. When asked to comment about the game, Carothers said it would be best to "ask the players, they seem to know better than I do." I concluded that some of the Quakers who are fixtures on the bench were getting tired of the splinters in their backsides. Carothers replaced all of her starters in the seventh inning and put in some of her players who were hungry for playing time. As if the Quakers weren't having enough problems, Carothers pulled sophomore center fielder Abby Shore from the game in the fifth inning. Shore stormed off the field and didn't return for the rest of the game. During the second game, however, it seemed the Quakers were going to avenge the first loss to the Hawks. After St. Joe's jumped to an early 2-0 lead, it looked as if Penn would rebound in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, it seemed as if the Quakers would at least tie the Hawks in that inning. But after senior Hilary Stamos was picked off third, the Quakers were lucky to leave the inning with one run. The scored remained 2-1 until the top of the seventh. When the Hawks' Colleen Fahy singled to left-center, there was some confusion whether the left fielder, Nestler, or the center fielder, Shore, should field the ball. The ball was kicked around and Fahy reached second. As luck would have it, that run scored also. Down 3-1 but still determined, the Quakers refused to give up. Richeimer led off the inning with a single. Freshman Kara Lecker was called in to pinch run. In yet another questionable coaching decision, Carothers gave freshman Melanie Bolt the bunt signal. Oh, that deadly signal. That signal had already caused so much heartache for the loyal Quaker fans in game one. I, along with the entire bleacher section filled with parents and boyfriends, realized that giving up an out to advance Lecker served no purpose. Bolt was the tying run and Carothers was taking the bat out of her hands. Bolt fouled off two pitches. I breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank God, there's no way she'll bunt with two strikes." As the words left my mouth, Bolt laid down a sacrifice which sent Lecker to second. After freshman Samantha Smithson failed to advance Lecker to third, Thompson stepped up to the plate with two out. Thompson drilled a single up the middle. Lecker rounded third and beat out the center fielder's throw to the plate. While Lecker scored, Thompson was sent to second by the first-base coach and gunned down by the catcher. A fitting end to the day. The Quakers outhit the Hawks 7-6 in game two but committed four errors. Not one of St. Joe's runs was earned. "It's going to be hard to get up for games when we're so far down in the Ivies," Hembrough said. Indeed, the Quakers will have a hard time getting up unless they begin playing fundamental softball. Until then, no one will have anything to say. Jason Brenner is a College freshman from Baltimore, Md., and a sports writer for The Daily Pennsylvanian.

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