Softball ends with most wins since '81

The Quakers swept a boubleheader on Saturday against Brown to finish the year 4-8 in the Ivies. By winning two games in its final weekend of the season, the Penn softball team earned the second most wins in the history of the program -- 15. Penn's 1999 season ended Monday when the Quakers (15-22, 4-8 Ivy League) returned home to play their third doubleheader in as many days against St. Joseph's (30-24-1), dropping both games by the scores of 8-1 and 8-3. Penn spent the previous two days playing Ivy League rivals in New England. Despite being swept at Yale (23-19-1, 3-7) last Saturday, 6-0 and 7-3, the Quakers bounced back the following afternoon with a dramatic sweep of Brown (11-27, 2-8) to finish their Ivy season at 4-8, the program's first four Ivy wins since 1997. At the onset of the Brown doubleheader, things looked like a repeat of Saturday's games at Yale. The Bears hit Penn pitcher Michelle Zaptin hard in the first game, scoring one run in the first inning and two in the second. With a runner in scoring position and two out in the bottom of the second inning, Penn coach Carol Kashow wasted no time going to her No. 1 pitcher, Suzanne Arbogast, even though Arbogast was slated to pitch the second game of the doubleheader. "Our last Ivy games were more important than the St. Joe's games [the next day] so we didn't want to hold back," Kashow said. Arbogast got the final out of the inning, leaving the Quakers behind by only three runs. Normally a three-run deficit is insurmountable for a team that averages 2.8 runs per game but the Quakers were wearing their rally caps Sunday. The Quakers' offense came alive in the fourth inning, which started with three consecutive Penn hits, topped off by a Jaime Hojdila RBI double. By the inning's end, the Quakers led 4-3. Although the Bears never regained the lead, they knotted the game 4-4 in the fifth inning. Penn first baseman Kari Dennis broke the tie in the last inning with an RBI single, giving Penn its 14th win of the season. "Everyone contributed in Florida which made for a successful trip," Kashow said. "We lost that in the middle [of the season] but once we started doing that again we won in a flurry." The Red and Blue refused to remove their rally caps for the second game of the Brown doubleheader, as they once again battled back to win in Providence, R.I. This time Brown took a 2-1 lead into the sixth inning when Penn third baseman Jen Moore led off the inning with a double. Subsequently, Penn shortstop Sherryl Fodera singled Moore home to tie the game. The Quakers continued to pour it on in the sixth inning. After taking a 4-2 lead, Molly Meehan put the icing on the cake with a two-run double, increasing Penn's lead to 6-2. The Bears responded with one run in the bottom half of the inning, but they were shut down in the seventh. Arbogast pitched a complete game -- for a total of 12 1/3 innings in one afternoon -- to earn her ninth victory of the season and her second of the day. Arbogast's performance on the mound, along with Penn's success at the plate, led the Quakers to their 15th win of the year. Penn's winningest season came in 1981, when the Red and Blue won 18 games en route to their only Ivy League championship.

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