Softball drops pair to Yale

Quakers defenseQuakers defensestruggles in twoQuakers defensestruggles in twoweekend losses It was not the prettiest of weekends for the Penn softball team. The Quakers arrived back on Penn's campus late last night after taking four more hits to their floundering record while visiting Yale and Brown. Saturday, Penn lost two games to the Elis, 4-1 and 7-0. Yesterday, the Quakers were downed twice again, this time facing the Bears, losing by scores of 5-0 and 4-2. The trip to New Haven, Ct., was not a happy one. The Red and Blue dug its own grave by failing to execute on both defense and offense. The Quakers produced only one run off nine combined hits in the twin bill, stranding 11 runners on base. Penn accumulated two more errors than hits in the next day's doubleheader, which was in stark contrast to Yale's immaculate defense. Ten of the Quakers' 11 errors were made by the young infielders. Perhaps the only bright spot for Penn was the batting of junior Laurie Nestler and freshman Sherryl Fodera. Nestler went 3-for-6 and Fodera went 2-for-5 on the day, each whacking a double in the first game of the afternoon. Despite losing both ends of another doubleheader, yesterday's trip to Providence was somewhat of a sweeter tale. The Quakers improved their defense immensely, committing only two errors total, one in each game. The errors were again made by the young infielders, but the growth of these freshman and sophomores is starting to show as they bounced back from the disastrous defensive performances the day before. Junior Vicki Moore had a great performance at the plate. Although Moore was at 100 percent in the field for the first time Saturday after injuring her hamstring April 6 against Cornell, she did not start to show her true colors until yesterday. The pitcher/designated hitter went 3-for-5 on the afternoon. In addition, she grabbed two extra-base hits with a double and triple in the first game of the doubleheader. "Welcome back," Penn coach Linda Carothers said of Moore's hitting. The most exciting part of the afternoon occurred late in the nightcap. In the top of the seventh inning Penn rallied for two runs to give Brown a scare. "It gives the kids confidence after not executing in the Yale series," Carothers said of the rally. "We were able to get through [Yale] and get back. We started to hit the ball. We played very good defense, but you can't win if you don't score." The seventh inning rally put the Quakers back on the track they were heading before the weekend. "Hopefully, the last game against Brown put us in a position to gain some momentum heading into the rest of the schedule," Carothers said. With only six games left, momentum is something good to have. With it, Penn could play out some beautiful performances on Warren Field. Without it, the Quakers' record could get pretty ugly.