Softball cruising across Philly to meet Drexel

Dragons pitchers will challengeDragons pitchers will challengeQuakers with superior velocity After defeating West Chester a week ago and sweeping Columbia on Sunday, the Penn softball team has finally embarked on a journey down the road of success. But the next stop on this unfamiliar path already appears to be a problem. Today the Quakers (5-12) visit their powerhouse West Philly neighbor Drexel (3-10) at 2:30 p.m. The Dragons' record may not seem impressive, but the win-loss count is not indicative of Drexel's true ability on the field, according to Penn coach Linda Carothers. "They're going to be a threat for us offensively and defensively," Carothers said. "We're going to have to hit the ball hard and be aggressive from the get go. Drexel is going to give us everything we can handle and probably more." The Dragons' greatest weapon is their pitching. Although none of Drexel's pitchers boast an outstanding ERA, they all possess something that almost no Quaker has faced before -- velocity. "What we're going to see for the first time in a long time is quicker pitching," Carothers said. "[Penn junior Laurie Nestler] should do well. She thrives on fast pitch." But according to Carothers, the rest of the team will have to make big adjustments to the faster pitching -- and not only for today's game, but for the better half of the Ivy League games as well. Carothers will use the Drexel contest as a warm-up for the Ivy part of the Quakers' season. The play that Penn sees today is the type of game the Quakers will see against upper-tier teams like Princeton and Harvard. "They've got to get quicker hands," Carothers said of her hitters. "They've got to make decisions a whole lot quicker because the ball is going to get to them a whole lot quicker. " Besides a mean hurling staff, Drexel also has solid hitting at the plate. The majority of the team is at a .220 batting average or above. Two Dragons are batting over .300. Compare that to Penn. With the exception of Nestler -- who has slugged her way to a .500 average -- the majority of the team is hovering around the Mendoza line or lower. It's no secret that the bottom half of the Quakers' lineup is having trouble producing any hits at all. "It's going to be a real true test for us," Carothers said. "It's going to be real interesting for us to see the adjustments that come out of how we handle them." Last season, Drexel swept Penn at Warren Field. A repeat of history could put the Quakers in the breakdown lane of the road of success. But if Penn continues to play the way it has been playing the last few games, the Quakers' winning streak could be extended past three -- something that hasn't happened since April of 1994.