Softball can't pull out a win

Although the Penn softball team stayed close in two of four games, if fell to both Princeton and Drexel. Thursday, Penn coach Carol Kashow said that Lori Swanson "is one of the best pitchers in our region." Saturday, the Drexel pitcher lived up to the hype. However, before the Quakers fell 9-1 and 4-0 to the Swanson-led Dragons, Penn opened the weekend with 3-2 and 14-1 losses to archrival Princeton. In Penn's first Ivy League game of the season, Quakers hurler Suzanne Arbogast squared off against Sarah Peterman, last week's Ivy League Pitcher of the Week. Princeton (11-14, 2-0 Ivy League) scored first on a solo home run by Kim Veenstra and then added two more runs in the fourth. Although Penn (8-13, 0-2) trailed 3-0 going into the sixth inning, Arbogast, who tossed a complete game and only gave up five hits, pitched well enough to keep the Quakers alive. The Red and Blue finally crossed the plate in the top of the sixth, when leadoff hitter Clarisa Apostol doubled in sophomore Christine Fenyus. Then, Jaime Hojdila walked and Jen Moore singled to load the bases. With the bases loaded, Princeton catcher Devon Keefe allowed a pitch to get by her, advancing all the baserunners and cutting the Tigers' lead to 3-2. However, with runners on second and third, the Quakers were unable to get the ball out of the infield as Sherryl Fodera grounded out and Jamie Pallas hit a fly ball to the shortstop. Penn went three-up, three-down in the seventh inning to give Princeton a 3-2 victory. "We put ourselves in a position to come from behind and win," Kashow said. "I don't have a problem playing a game well and not winning because that's a step in the right direction." Unfortunately for the Quakers, everything fell apart in the second game. Princeton catcher Vicki Siesta hit a grand slam in the third inning and a three-run dinger in the fourth to account for seven of the Tigers' 14 runs. "We had mistakes that led to unearned runs and the score just blossomed," Kashow said. "We gave them runs. We can't go around playing Santa Claus in the Ivy League and expect to get anywhere." The Quakers tried to take more of a Scrooge approach the following afternoon when they hosted Drexel. Nevertheless, it was Drexel which came out firing on all cylinders. Two first-inning runs off Penn junior pitcher Michelle Zaptin gave Drexel a lead it would never relinquish. The Dragons (14-10) continued to pour it on in the third inning. Zaptin walked three consecutive batters to lead off the inning; by the time the Quakers had retired the side, Drexel led 6-0. Penn scored its lone run of the game after Apostol reached base on an error with two outs in the bottom of the third. After Apostol took second on a passed ball, sophomore Hojdila hit a scorcher that just eluded Drexel centerfielder Alicia Good to drive Apostol home. With a 6-1 lead going into the fourth inning, Drexel coach Ray Perri strategically removed Swanson so he could use his ace in the second game as well. "I thought Arbogast was going to pitch the second game so I figured I'd take Lori [Swanson] out and put her back in [the second game]," Perri said. It turns out Perri's strategy to neutralize Arbogast -- Penn's No. 1 pitcher -- was futile because Arbogast did not pitch the second game due to a stomach virus. Drexel went on to win the first game 9-1 in five innings, thanks to the mercy rule, and came back with Swanson -- who gave up only one hit and struck out five in three innings of work in the first game -- to start the second. With Arbogast out, Kashow gave freshman pitcher Kate Hanlon the nod for her first career start. After giving up two runs in the first inning, Hanlon settled down and did not surrender a hit in the next three. "Kate came back in the second game and did a marvelous job against a team that can certainly get a hold of the ball," Kashow said. "She kept us in the game the whole time." Despite Hanlon's quality pitching performance, Penn was unable to generate any offense against Swanson. Swanson pitched five innings of no-hit softball in the second game before Laura Tynio took over in relief. "Lori [Swanson] just has a couple of pitches that are really tough to hit," Perri said. "She's got a good rise ball and a good screwball." Penn junior Kari Dennis singled off Tynio to open the sixth but it would be the Quakers' only hit of the game. Drexel scored an insurance run in each of the fifth and sixth innings to claim a 4-0 victory against its University City neighbors. True to Kashow's prediction, Swanson turned in a spectacular performance. Her stats against the Quakers would make any Rotisserie softball fan drool -- two wins, no earned runs and 10 strikeouts while allowing just one hit.

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