SPORTS BRIEFS: Monday, April 12, 1999

Softball blanked twice by Big Red yesterday Clarisa Apostol had the only hit for the visiting Quakers in the first game. She led off the contest with a single but the Penn batters did not hit another ball out of the infield. Big Red hurler Julia Westbrock retired the last 15 batters in succession in the mercy-rule-shortened, five-inning game. Both Annette Sheppard and Jen Morrow hit homers for Cornell, as the Big Red rapped out nine hits and scored seven earned runs off Penn starter Suzanne Arbogast. Penn hung with Cornell for four innings in the second game but the Big Red broke a scoreless tie by scoring six two-out runs in the fifth. Four of the runs were unearned as a Jen Moore error allowed Charlotte Brombach to reach base. Tracy Quinn knocked in the first Big Red run with a single, while Jamie Reed capped the scoring with a three-run homer. Moore provided the only offense for the Quakers in the second game, as her three singles represent the only times Penn reached base against Cornell pitcher Nicole Zitarelli. Zitarelli struck out four in the complete-game shutout of the Quakers. On the day, Cornell outscored Penn 15-0 and had 23 baserunners to the Quakers four. The Big Red also committed just one error to the Quakers' five. Shortstop Sherryl Fodera had three of the five Penn errors, including two in the sixth inning of the second game. Penn hosts Harvard on Saturday at 1 p.m. on Warren Field in its next game. -- Jason Bodnar