Pitchers anchor Softball

Suzanne Arbogast and Lee Pepe's complete games lead the Quakers. Any fan can tell you that pitching and defense win championships. But the Penn women's softball team took a different approach yesterday, relying on stellar pitching and awful defense -- Lafayette's awful defense. Penn (10-19) swept a doubleheader yesterday from Lafayette (5-25) at Warren Field, winning 5-1 and 3-0. Quakers pitchers Suzanne Arbogast and Lee Pepe both pitched complete games, holding the Leopards to one run on five hits total. While Arbogast has pitched effectively all year, earning seven of Penn's 10 wins, Pepe has come on strong the last few weeks. After losing her first four collegiate decisions, Pepe has won three out of four, including a one-hit shutout in the nightcap. "She's getting ground ball outs, and they're routine outs too, not hard hit balls," Penn coach Carol Kashow said. "The last three or four weeks, she's done a very good job. At the beginning of the year, I think she was a little nervous about competing at this level." The doubleheader sweep shows Penn is now taking advantage of its opportunities, something it hadn't done consistently earlier in the season. The Quakers scored eight runs on only nine hits, as Lafayette's 11 errors led to six unearned runs for the Red and Blue. After being shutout twice Saturday against Princeton, Penn exploded for three runs in the first inning of the opener. Freshman Vicky Frondozo started the inning with a perfect bunt base-hit, just in front of home plate. After junior tri-captain Sherryl Fodera managed the inning's only other hit, Penn used two errors to get three unearned runs home. That was all the support Arbogast would need. Lafayette's only earned run allowed in the game came on an Arbogast triple in the fourth that brought home battery-mate Sarah Dominic. "I tried to lay down the bunt, but it went foul, so she gave me a hit-and-run," Arbogast said. "It was a fat pitch right down the middle." On the next pitch, Arbogast scored on a suicide squeeze by Sara Atwater. Frondozo was the beneficiary of three of Lafayette first baseman Amy Hessels' five errors in the twinbill -- reaching base three times when Hessels could not hold on to hurried throws. "A lot of times a slapper will either rely on their quickness or the fact that because they're so fast the defense will make errors," Frondozo said. Frondozo's team-leading batting average and on-base percentage have fallen to .310 and .387, respectively, after being as high as .469 and .541 a few weeks ago. Although she was only credited with one hit, Frondozo reached base on four of six at-bats yesterday, scoring two runs. "I was very happy because the last couple games I wasn't doing well at all," Frondozo said. "Yesterday I had a good, individual practice with [assistant coach] Patty [Clarke] because I had an exam. I definitely felt confident coming out onto the field today, which was very different from how I was feeling before." Frondozo scored her team-leading 17th run of the season in the first inning of the second game. Penn scored two runs without a hit to jump out to another early lead, taking advantage of every opportunity. The two runs were more than enough for Pepe, whose only blemish was a leadoff single by Abby Bomba in the second. "A lot of it was attitude," Pepe said. "I showed [the coaches] I wanted to play, and they gave me a chance. I guess I did well so they're keeping me in." Pepe stayed in the game after hurting herself sliding into second base in the bottom of the fifth, eventually scoring the Quakers' third unearned run of the game. Despite the injury, Pepe retired the Leopards in order the last two innings. "I was sliding into second and my sliding shorts aren't tight enough, I guess," Pepe said. "I slid really hard into second and got a little raspberry." While the Quakers were obviously pleased with yesterday's games, they still have a long road ahead of them. They host Villanova Thursday before doubleheaders against Ivy League rivals Brown, Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth the next two weekends. "In the Ivies it's a dogfight every time," Kashow said. "They have the opportunity, and we've given them the challenge to run the board. That certainly would be an accomplishment."