Softball swept by Wildcats

It might be in the midst of a trying season, but as yesterday's doubleheader against Villanova showed, the Penn softball team is close to turning its year around. Depleted by injuries and playing a Wildcats team that destroyed them earlier this month in Florida, the Quakers (5-18) hung tough in both games, only to be disappointed by 3-2 and 2-1 losses. In the first game of the twin bill, two Penn errors allowed three of the first five Villanova hitters to cross the plate. Nothing more was to be heard from the Villanova offense the rest of the game, which was due mostly to the outstanding performance of Quakers pitcher Dawn Kulp. Filling in for fellow hurler Vicki Moore, who was forced to play third base because of the team's injury problems, Kulp pitched all but one inning of the doubleheader and kept the Wildcats in check. "I let the batters hit the ball and my defense made all the plays behind me. They played very well," Kulp said. Penn's problem in the first contest was it could not generate much firepower of its own. The Quakers plated two runs in the fifth inning, but that would be all. Third-string catcher Kristin Richeimer, playing because of all the injury problems, scored one and Moore knocked in Sam Smithson for the other. But Villanova's relief staff promptly shut the gates in the final two innings for the victory. In the nightcap, Penn grabbed the lead in the fourth inning on Moore's second RBI of the afternoon, which brought home first baseman Melanie Bolt. But the Wildcats knotted it up at 1 in the next inning, and that's the way it stayed until the bottom of the seventh. That's when Kulp made one of her few mistakes of the day. The Wildcats' first hitter of the frame, right fielder Melissa Ansell, slammed Kulp's offering out of the park to end the game and sweep the doubleheader. It was a heartbreaking end to a disappointing day for the young Quakers. But the team knows it can receive some encouragement from yesterday's result. "After Villanova beat us really badly in Florida, we wanted to show them today that we can stick with them and play them closely," second baseman Amy Malerba said. "We definitely did that, but unfortunately everything couldn't come together well enough for us to get a win."