Softball splits with Explorers

The men took the field. There's a catch in this story though -- it was a softball field. As the field crew soaked the infield to keep the dirt manageable at frosty Warren Field, the Quakers celebrated their 5-3 win over La Salle . The women re-took the field to the cheer of "Go Penn, go Penn, go Penn. Take two!" That did not happen as the Quakers (13-14), refrained from hitting and lost to the Explorers 7-0 in their second contest of the afternoon. "We hit the ball in the first game," Quakers coach Linda Carothers said. "We just didn't hit as well in the second game." Even though Penn got shut out in the second game, it is happy with the results of the game. Last season, La Salle shut the Quakers down in both games and the Red and Blue have already won more games this season than either of the last two. Freshman pitcher Joy Silvern pitched Penn to her fifth win of the season against four losses. The Quakers scored all their runs in only two innings, with three in the first and two in the fourth. The Explorers (13-19) were on the comeback in the top of the sixth inning, but Penn held them to only two runs. As the sun dipped down behind the train tracks, the Quakers' ability to make contact dipped with it. La Salle's pitcher for the game, Debbie Klawiter, began her game to the cheers of her teammates "C'mon Debbie, go four-two." "Four-two" hurled her way to a shutout with her Exorcist-esque chuck. Klawiter's neck would twist to the side into an uncomfortably backwards glance as her arms would fling the softball toward the plate. Not only did Klawiter show incredible flexibility in her windup, but in the two hopped balls that she shagged while extending her arm to seemingly impossible heights above her head. The Quakers' only hit off of "four-two" was shortstop Sherryl Fodera's single. Kara Lecker and Laurie Nestler both reached base on walks. "We didn't move the baserunners well in the second game," Carothers said. As the game entered the seventh inning, Penn was only behind by two runs. Freshman Suzanne Arbogast loaded the bases, but was unable to get the outs necessary to end the inning. Captain Vicki Moore replaced "Arby" and the Explorers were able to score more runs before the Quakers could get out of the inning. "7-0 is not a really good indicator of this game," Carothers said. "[La Salle] hit the ball timely. We put those baserunners on and then we couldn't get the out once they were on." Once again, the Quakers fell just below the .500 line. And once again, they did better this year than last, it's too bad for them that doing better than last year allows such mundane results.