Softball swept by Delaware, Lafayette

and Joanna Jacobs NEWARK, Del. -- The Penn softball team is mending its wounds after being clawed by the Delaware Blue Hens and the Lafayette Leopards this weekend. Plagued by porous infield defense, the Quakers lost 5-1 and 6-1 Saturday against Delaware. Yesterday, Lafayette downed Penn, 7-5 and 5-3, dropping the Quakers' overall record to 2-11. Strong winds at Delaware Field controlled the style of both games on Saturday. Very few balls found their way deep into the outfield, and the ones that did make it past the infield were usually hard grounders that should have been fielded. Sophomore Amy Malerba, who appeared to have mastered third base against Villanova last Wednesday, struggled defensively all weekend at the hot corner. It was early in the first game against Delaware when Malerba's woes at third base began. Following a wicked line drive down the third base line that Malerba was slow to react on, was an overthrow to first base on the next ground ball hit her way. The error by Malerba led to two Blue Hens runs, and Delaware never looked back, extending the two-run lead to the final four-run margin. The weekend provided valuable experience for freshman pitcher Megan Leary. In three out of the five innings, Leary pitched her way out trouble, only allowing five hits. With the temperature dropping rapidly, Penn couldn't shake the cold of its hitting woes. And scrounging for only four hits only added to the pressure on Penn's defense. While Malerba temporarily regained her composure, freshman first baseman Martha Merkel had her own problems. At second, freshman Lauren Mishner, who had four errors during the Villanova doubleheader, was rock solid this weekend. The bright spot for Penn at Delaware was the hitting of leftfielder Laurie Nestler who went 2 for 4 (and 5 for 11 overall on the weekend). After two bad losses in weather that would have been more suited for football than softball, Penn hoped to come back with a strong outing yesterday against the Leopards in much friendlier conditions. But just as the weather proved to be an early-spring tease, the early leads that Penn mounted in both games against Lafayette (6-3) taunted the hopes of the Quakers. The 60 degree climate warmed up the bats of the Quakers, who slugged 14 hits in two games after managing only 13 hits in the previous four games combined. Despite solid pitching by sophomore Jen Strawley, who recorded four strikeouts for the day, Penn fell behind in the first game of the afternoon. Down by three runs going into the fifth inning, the Quakers rallied against Lafayette. With two outs and the bases loaded, Fodera drew a walk to force in one run. Junior Vicki Moore followed with a double to the gap in leftfield, clearing the bases and tying the score. Nestler then blooped a single to left, driving in Moore and putting the Quakers ahead, 5-4. But the following inning, the Leopards proved that they had plenty of pop left in their bats, scoring three runs on two hits to pull ahead of Penn for good. The heart-breaking 7-5 loss in the first game motivated the Quakers to jump out to an early 3-1 lead in the next game. But in the sixth inning, Lafayette loaded the bases with one out. Leopards coach Maria DiBernardi wasted no time calling on freshman slugger Amy Hessels, who was batting .583, to pinch hit. But Moore never gave Hessels a chance to swing her magic wand, walking the Leopards slugger on four pitches. From there, the inning turned into a comedy of errors for the Penn infield. The Quakers turned a Megan Koelle pop-up into three runs when freshman Arlyn Katzen, trying to nail an advancing runner at third, threw the ball into leftfield. "I threw the ball away," Katzen said. "Vicki pitched a great game. I just wanted to be able to win a game for her and Strawley. "Everyone wanted to win to so badly. It's a shame that one bad inning in each game cost us the whole game."