Softball splits with Dragons

Quakers set to host Ivy foes After stringing together a five-game winning streak, the Penn women's softball team returned to its old Jekyll and Hyde routine yesterday as the Quakers split a doubleheader with Drexel at Warren Field. Senior Hilary Stamos homered and freshman Vicki Moore collected three hits, including an RBI triple and double, as Penn crushed the Dragons 14-4 on 16 hits in the second game of the twinbill. But if the second game was one of the Quakers' best of the season, the first was one of the ugliest. Penn committed seven errors in the first three innings en route to a 9-2 loss. "We just didn't do anything right at all the first game," Moore said. "That had to be the worst game we've played. We played bad in Florida, but that was the worst." In the third inning, the Quakers were already trailing 3-2 on three unearned runs when the real comedy of errors began. Drexel's Kim Killo led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second when Wendi Colby reached on an error by freshman second baseman Samantha Smithson. After a sacrifice moved the runners to second and third, Dragon Jessie Levandowski singled home Killo. Levandowski went halfway to second on the play, stopped, and then broke for the bag, drawing a throw from Penn freshman pitcher Melanie Bolt that ended up in center field and allowed Colby to score. The next batter, Heather Padullo, promptly hit a routine groundball which senior shortstop Rachel Walsh booted to allow Levandowski to score. Two outs and another error later, the Quakers finally returned to the dugout in a 6-2 hole. "It was like the Ghost of Christmas past," Stamos said. "That was the old Penn team that I've seen over the past three years. It was just error after error after error. Anyone who touched the ball was dropping it." The loss was the first of the year for Bolt, who was not only victimized by turnstile defense, but also by a lack of support at the plate. Drexel's Colby held the Quakers (10-11) to only three hits in the game with Bolt herself accounting for two. "She threw hard, but it was right there," Bolt said. "Basically, she had no junk. It was just a straight fastball and it came in nice. We should've really ripped into her." Penn wasted no time venting its frustration in the second game as the Quakers batted around in a four-run first inning, highlighted by sophomore Abby Shore's bases-loaded double. After Drexel (7-7) closed the gap to 4-2, Penn's big guns opened fire with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the fourth. First, senior Stacey Thompson doubled over the left fielder's head. Moore then launched a rocket to the wall in left-center for a triple to score Thompson. Moore later scored on an error to extend the Quaker lead to 6-2. All hell broke loose in the seventh inning when Stamos blasted a towering leadoff home run over the fence in left to make it 7-4. Thirteen batters later, Penn had spotted Moore a 10-run cushion to finish out the game. "The second game was definitely a payback game," Bolt said. Senior Lanie Moore earned the victory for the Quakers, working four innings after pitching the final three of the opener. Vicki Moore came on in the fifth and surrendered only two unearned runs over three innings. This weekend, Penn will need to be more focused when it opens the Ivy League season with a pair of doubleheaders against Princeton tomorrow and Cornell Sunday. Both game are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at Warren Field. The Tigers (16-8), led by star freshman pitcher Maureen Davies (6-1, 1.32 ERA), finished second in the Ivy League last year and look to be tough again this year. The Big Red (5-10), formerly a club team, is entering its first year of Ivy competition.

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