SPORTS BRIEFS: Thursday, April 16, 1998

Caramanico awarded Big 5 Rookie of the Year Caramanico, who finished 34th in the nation in scoring with a 20.2 average, was the only underclassman on the All-Big 5 first team. This selection comes after a season in which she was named Big 5 Player of the Week four times. Her 524 points were the second most in a single season in Penn history. Also earning honors from the Big 5 was Caramanico's coach. Julie Soriero, who led the Quakers to a third-place finish in the Ivies, was selected as Coach of the Year. ---Rick Haggerty Softball to be tested by Villanova at home The Penn women's softball team hosts Villanova at 3:30 p.m. today at Franklin Field in their last non-conference action of the season. The doubleheader was rescheduled from a rainout on April 2. The Quakers come in on a high note after sweeping a doubleheader 5-1 and 3-0 against Lafayette Tuesday. Penn pitchers Suzanne Arbogast and Lee Pepe both recorded complete game wins. The Quakers offense took advantage of the porous Leopards defense, scoring six unearned runs. But Penn will be hard-pressed to continue their success against the Wildcats, who are 26-12 on the season after a doubleheader sweep of La Salle. They will test the Red and Blue's pitching staff, as Villanova's .308 team batting average ranks them 16th in the nation. Making matters worse, Villanova's pitching staff has only given up 1.47 runs per game and are holding opponents to a .182 batting average. Penn's offense will look to its two best hitters, Vicky Frondozo and Lauren Mishner, to try and score runs against the Wildcats. -- Daniel Tenenblatt