Softball swept by Hawks, hits new low

In five short days, the Penn softball team's dream of a third-place finish in the Ivy League has turned into the burden of finishing out the worst season in school history. Entering yesterday's doubleheader at St. Joseph's, the Quakers had a 10-29 record, and with four games remaining they were on pace to become the first Penn squad to lose 30 contests in a season. Over on Hawk Hill, St. Joe's is in the midst of a record-breaking season of its own. But the Hawks' record is one of which coach Charlie Wieners can be proud. With six games to go, St. Joe's needed just three wins to set a school record with 31 victories on the year. With the Hawks in pursuit of a place in the record book and the Quakers desperately trying to avoid the same fate, an otherwise insignificant non-conference twin bill became a key late-season battle. In the first game, Penn pulled out to an 8-1 lead in the fourth inning. But the Quakers' high run total was not a fair indication of how they were really hitting. "Their pitcher was really struggling," Penn pitcher Melanie Bolt said. "She was giving up a lot of walks. There were a lot of passed balls and errors. Then we would get a single or two. We just capitalized on their mistakes." "It's not that we weren't hitting her," first baseman Vicki Moore added. "We just couldn't knock anyone in." Wieners made the move to his bullpen, bringing in ace Carrie McCarthy. With McCarthy dominating the Quakers on the mound, St. Joe's mounted its comeback. "We just couldn't hit her," Bolt said of McCarthy. "She really shut us down." In the bottom of the fifth inning, St. Joe's came storming back with six runs. After three runs had crossed the plate, Penn coach Linda Carothers pulled Bolt in favor of Dawn Kulp. With Kulp on the mound, the Hawks scored another three runs to cut the Quakers lead to 8-7. Carothers then brought in freshman hurler Jen Strawley in the sixth inning, but it was not enough to prevent Penn from blowing another late-inning lead. St. Joe's (30-13) handed the Quakers their 30th loss of the season by a score of 9-8. Strawley came back to start the second game. But Penn appeared to be sleepwalking through the game. St. Joe's struck early and often en route to an 8-0 pounding of the Quakers. "That come-from-behind win took a lot out of us," Bolt said. "We just couldn't get back into our game."