Leps host Softball

After sweeping its first doubleheader of the season Sunday against Dartmouth, the Penn softball team travels to Lafayette this afternoon looking to continue its winning streak. And the Quakers should do exactly that. With a 4-30 record, Lafayette is the worst team on paper the Quakers have played to date. Moreover, Penn soundly defeated the Leopards 5-1 and 3-0 last season, accounting for two of Penn's six victories against Division I schools. "We can't afford to look past anyone and that's our mentality right now," junior outfielder Heather Finley said. "We're going to come out and play hard no matter what anyone's record is." Playing hard was what helped the Quakers break out of a five-game losing streak against Dartmouth last Sunday. The Penn offense showed signs that it was returning to form one day earlier when the Quakers registered eight hits in the second game of the doubleheader against Harvard. On Sunday, the Red and Blue were practically an offensive juggernaut, scoring eight runs in two games -- more runs than they tallied in the previous nine games combined. "Everyone contributed more as a team and we were more aggressive at the plate," freshman third baseman Jen Moore said. Penn should be able to continue its aggressive ways at the plate today when the Quakers face off against the subpar Lafayette pitchers. The Leopards' three-member pitching staff has a combined earned run average of 7.08. Moreover, the threesome has combined for a total of only 48 strikeouts in 34 games this season. To put that in perspective, Penn pitcher Suzanne Arbogast alone has 57 strikeouts in her 15 starts. "I expect we'll put the ball in play pretty hard," Penn coach Carol Kashow said. "We're looking confident like we did when we were down in Florida." While the Quakers hope their bats continue to rejuvenate, the Penn hurlers should have no problem keeping the team in the ball game as they have been doing most of the season. Believe it or not, Lafayette's hitting may be even more lackluster than its pitching. The team batting average is .197 and the Leopards are averaging only 1.82 runs per game. Lafayette has been held to five hits or less in 20 of its 34 games, including no-hitters by Drexel and Seton Hall. "We don't want to waste a lot of pitches on a team that's not hitting well," Kashow said. "We want to go after them with a lot of fastballs." Penn did just that in last year's doubleheader, when it limited the Lafayette batters to five total hits in a complete game four-hitter by current ace Arbogast and a one-hit shutout by then-freshman Lee Pepe, who is no longer with the team. A repeat of last year's Lafayette sweep would increase the Quakers' winning streak to four games as they enter their final weekend of Ivy league action at Yale and Brown.

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