Yesterday afternoon at Warren Field, Penn pitcher Vicki Moore took one for the team -- four times. In a bizarre sequence of events, Penn's ace hurler was able to get out of trouble in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Quakers a 2-0 win in the first game of a doubleheader against La Salle. Penn lost the second game, 7-3, dropping its record to 8-23. On an overcast day, Penn was nursing a 2-0 lead with one out and an Explorer on first base in the bottom of the seventh inning. A Moore pitch was lined right back at her off her left hand, putting runners on second and third. Moore's delivery to the next batter was lined off her shin. However, she picked up the ball, and threw it to first base for the second out. The runners held. Next batter -- another shot off Moore's hand. She again recovered to record the third out and the victory. To make matters worse, Moore was hit by a pitch in her first at bat of the second game. "I just tried to keep my head in the game," she said. "I didn't want to get distracted." In fact, Moore worked out of trouble throughout the entire game. She gave up 5 hits and 4 walks without striking anyone out. However, the baserunners were scattered. La Salle's best chance came in the second inning when it had runners on first and third with one out, but the Explorers failed to score. "Vicki went deep in a lot of counts," Penn coach Linda Carothers said. "She's our ace. She just steps up when the pressure is on." In the second game, though, just as the sun came out, so did La Salle's bats. After recording eight consecutive outs, Penn starter Jen Strawley had control problems in the fourth inning with the score knotted at 1. Strawley started the inning by walking Jen Rueter and Jen Bostak. Then Dawn Palmer was called safe on a bunt single to load the bases for Chris Widlerman. Widlerman cleared them with a three-run double. That was Strawley's last pitch before being replaced by Dawn Kulp. "I guess I had control problems," Strawley said. "It's frustrating because I've never had that problem before." In the meantime, La Salle pitcher Lori Congdon scattered 3 runs over seven innings to give the Explorers a split in the doubleheader. While most of La Salle's hits came off ground balls, Penn hit many fly balls that died in the wind, which was blowing in all day. The highlight of the second game for the Quakers came in the top pf the fifth inning. With one out, La Salle's Rueter hit a line drive deep into the left center field gap. Penn left fielder Kara Lecker made an outstanding over the shoulder catch on the dead run. Overall, Carothers was pleased with Penn's performance. "This was the most solid doubleheader we've had in a long time," she said of the performance of her team, which had won only two of its previous 13 games. "We haven't looked this solid offensively and defensively since were in Florida." Penn played yesterday with catcher Sam Smithson and outfielder Abby Shore. Both had been sidelined with injuries. "We've got all of our starters back," Carothers said. "They're not at 100 percent, but they are back, and that helps everyone else out. "Our win has got to give everyone a lot of confidence to realize that things might be coming together," Carothers continued. "We haven't played to our potential yet."
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