Softball splits last four games at Warren Field

Vicki Moore, Kara Lecker and Laurie Nestler played their last games on Warren Field yesterday afternoon. The three seniors wished the diamond farewell in high fashion by joining the Quakers in sweeping Yale. "I don't ever remember us sweeping Yale," said Quakers coach Linda Carothers, who has led for 23 seasons. Penn didn't just sweep Yale (24-18, 3-3 Ivy League), but won the first game with an impressive score of 8-2, only to follow up in the second game by winning one of its closest games all season, 2-1. The Quakers (13-16, 2-4) also played Brown (13-16-1, 6-0) on Saturday, falling twice to the Bears in one day, 4-3 and 10-7. Even in defeat, Penn is showing how much it has improved since last season, and since the beginning of this season. In the second game of the day, the Quakers rallied in the last innings of the game, scoring two in the bottom of the fifth and one more in the bottom of the sixth. The Bears rallied in the seventh with three runs and then held Penn scoreless for the remainder of the game. "We made a couple of mistakes on Saturday in key spots and that was the difference," Carothers said. The Quakers made very few mistakes in key spots yesterday, especially in the second game of the series. The Red and Blue scored both of their runs in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman Sarah Dominic led the rally with a single to center field. Nestler reached first on an error by Elis third baseman Ginger Dunn, advancing Dominic to second. Arlyn Katzen hit an RBI double, scoring Dominic and placing Nestler on third. Jen Silvern struck out, and Lauren Mishner hit a sacrifice fly for an RBI as Katzen reached third and Nestler scored. Lecker then walked and Michelle Zaptin ended the inning by grounding out. The Elis fought back in the top of the third, cutting their deficit to one. The Quakers then held the Elis off for four innings. The combination of Joy Silvern's arm on the mound, Sherryl Fodera's excellent play at shortstop and Vicki Moore's glove at first along with every other player in the field playing at their best, led Penn past the Ivy's top-ranked team. "We took the good things that we did yesterday and brought them today, and we took the bad things that we did yesterday and left them where they needed to be left -- on the field with yesterday," Carothers said. "We did well." Amid all the celebration, there were a few black clouds as well. During the first game against Yale, the Quakers had two injuries. One involved Moore, who hit herself in the head with a foul ball. Moore played in the second game and is projected to be fine, excluding some soreness behind her left ear. Kim Wormer, Penn's regular second basemen, was taken to the hospital after being injured while sliding into second base. The exact injury and projected recovery period are, as of now, unknown. "Tomorrow we recuperate, and on Tuesday we'll see how many pieces we have left and then we go from there," said Carothers. The Quakers are experts at recuperating, although not from such serious injuries as that sustained by Wormer. Both Silver and Suzanne Arbogast pitched complete games on Saturday. Both lost. Yesterday, Vicki Moore started the first game against Yale but was relieved by Arbogast after the third inning. Moore continued to play as the game's designated hitter. Arbogast allowed only one hit and one run (unearned) in four innings on the mound. Silvern pitched the entire second game, allowing only one run and facing 24 batters. "Everyone contributed, everyone changed momentum, it was a great team effort," Silvern said. From the moment that Yale scored, to the end of the game, the Quakers did not commit one error. Fodera was impenetrable at shortstop. Wormer's substitute Lauren Mishner had an incredible diving stop that turned into an out at first. Nestler, Zaptkin and Lecker played smart and wall-like defense. Everybody was involved. Appropriately, in the last inning of the game, with one runner on base and two outs, Yale's last batter of the day grounded out to Silvern. "It feels really good to get an Ivy League win -- it's about time," Silvern said. "We kept losing the close ones and it was really great to win this one." The Quakers have played their last home game of the season, and come up big, bigger than anybody can remember.