Softball no-hit on rocky trip to open year

Penn won four of its first eight, but lost six straight to close out their stay in Florida over break. The 2000 Penn softball season got off to a hectic start over spring break as the team traveled to Florida to compete in two tournaments and a total of 14 games. The break started well enough, with the Quakers winning four of their first eight games. After that, however, Penn faltered, losing six straight games to finish up the break at 4-10. On the first day of Penn's second tournament, the squad fell victim to a no-hitter in a 4-0 loss to Western Kentucky. The near-perfect game by Katie Swertfager was the first no-hitter in Lady Toppers history. Swertfager walked sophomore Clarisa Apostol to open the game and hit freshman Deb Kowalchuk before retiring the next 21 in a row. Penn freshman pitcher Becky Ranta had a strong outing but found herself a hard-luck loser, giving up three runs in six innings of work. "I think we have to put this into perspective because we have eight freshmen including four in the starting lineup," Penn sophomore Jen Moore said. "Our team is really young and we played some big teams." In the final game of the break, Penn lost 5-0 against Tennessee Tech. In that game, Penn senior co-captain Michelle Zaptin threw four scoreless innings but gave up one run in the fifth and struggled in the sixth, giving up four runs and eventually taking the loss. "It is never fun to lose, but we played some really tough teams and that should help us prepare for the rest of the season," Zaptin said. "Nobody likes a six-game losing streak, but we are confident that we can turn it around this weekend." Despite the 10 losses, the Quakers do have some reasons to be optimistic. Ranta had an excellent start to her collegiate career. She won her first three starts to account for three of the four total Penn victories. "To have a freshman come in and perform like that right away is very exciting," Penn coach Carol Kashow said. "I thought that overall the freshmen showed a lot of maturity and handled themselves well on defense against a lot of base-runners." Other strong performers for Penn were sophomore second baseman Jamie Pallas and senior first baseman Kari Dennis who were solid on defense and at the plate. "I'm taking a lot more good than bad out of these games," Kashow said. "The second tournament was very difficult and we knew that going in. We should play well this weekend and hopefully raise our record to .500." Penn's most consistent hitter over the break was returning first team All-Ivy selection Moore. She led the Quakers with a .500 batting average over the first week of the season. "I kind of felt like I wasn't always getting my hits when I should have, but I did get a couple of RBI," Moore said. "My defense wasn't the best, though, and that's what I pride my game on." With so many freshmen in the starting lineup, the Quakers' somewhat slow start in the Sunshine State is understandable. The hope for Penn is that, as the young players become more accustomed to the collegiate level, the team will drastically improve. "We definitely have a ton of freshmen starting at key positions like shortstop and catcher," Zaptin said. "I think they did a really good job overall and they didn't get discouraged when they would make mistakes." Penn's most daunting task of the break came against 20th-ranked Illinois-Chicago. The Quakers showed promise early on, taking a quick 2-0 lead. Unfortunately for Penn, the Flames turned up the heat after that and ended up clobbering the Quakers, 10-2. This weekend, Penn will play three doubleheaders, starting on Friday against Lafayette. The Quakers will then play doubleheaders against La Salle and Rider the next two days. "I think we're all planning on winning all six games this weekend and getting back on a high-note before the Ivy season starts," Zaptin said. "We need to get some of our confidence back and just continue to improve."