Elis and Bears are next victims for Softball

After sweeping Lafayette, the Penn softball team hits the road for twin bills against Brown and Yale. With two more doubleheaders this weekend, the Penn women's softball team will have to move past today's losses to Villanova, 4-1, 5-1, and focus on Brown and Yale. Because of adverse weather conditions earlier this season, instead of enjoying the pre-Fling revelry, the Quakers (8-21) spent today on the playing field with the Wildcats (26-12). The afternoon started out right for Penn defensively but the trade-off seemed to be their offense as Penn's bats fell silent. For the Quakers, the bright spot on the diamond and at the plate was first-game starting pitcher sophomore Suzanne Arbogast. The Wildcats seemed unable to get a handle on Arbogast and proceeded to ground out the first four innings. Arbogast has improved during the season with her longevity on the mound and ability to throw the heat under pressure. "I think that I have progressed," said Arbogast. "I think it is just the experience of a lot of games. Everybody is a little rusty at the beginning of the season. Some days I am just on, and I hit my spots.? Today I was pretty much hitting the inside and the outside. All my pitches seemed to be working today." With her defense still wavering, Penn coach Carol Kashow is now looking to her pitchers to keep the runners off the bases and the games close. "Once again today our pitchers did a darn good job," Kashow said. "[Arbogast] went for five innings and at the plate she helped herself, too." Arbogast managed to go 2-2 at the plate and batted in Penn's only run of the game. For the sophomore hurler and her teammates, the key seems to be relaxation in the box. Unfortunately, it seems that the Quakers only reach that point of ease in the bottom of the seventh when they are behind by a couple runs. At their last at bat of both games, Penn managed to get off to a good start, but soon lost their momentum. In the first game, sophomore catcher Sarah Dominic led off with a double followed by Arbogast's single, and in the second game freshman Kari Feinberg started it off with a double followed by singles from junior Sherryl Fodera and Dominic. "We got runners on base in the seventh inning," Kashow said. "It is not over until it is over. We have to knuckle down a little bit before this weekend and dig our heels in and really play some ball." The Quakers, 0-4 in their conference, begin a series of Ivy League double headers this weekend starting with the Bears (5-8, 1-3 Ivy) Saturday and Yale (17-19, 2-2) Sunday. "Certainly, it is wide open," Kashow said. "Brown has had a heck of a tough year also. They have not played particularly good softball and Yale has been kind of up and down." Even this late in the season the Quakers are still not settling in on the field or at bat. Kashow is looking to her pitchers to lead the way this weekend and is hoping that the rest of her team follows close behind. Yale will definitely be a force to be reckoned with as they look to continue their four-game winning streak, which includes sweeping Dartmouth and Central Connecticut. The Elis will be looking to swallow Penn and add them to their recent momentum. "The most consistent part of our game right now is the job that the pitchers are doing on the pitching rubber," Kashow said. "And we are real pleased with that. We need to play better defense and give them some support at the plate."