Softball bats hushed in defeats

Penn looked good in a win at Temple but then dropped three in a row. A weekend that started off perfectly for the Penn softball team, with the Quakers stopping their four-game winless streak, ended in disappointment, as the Red and Blue (9-16-1) dropped three straight games against Temple and Army. Saturday's action got underway exactly how Penn wanted. The Quakers, who have been struggling to put runs on the board, hit the ball well and scored six runs in the first game of the doubleheader at Temple. Freshman Becky Ranta won her sixth game and pitched well in Penn's 6-2 victory. Following Saturday's opener, Penn struggled mightily with the lumber for the rest of the weekend. The Quakers lost the second game to Temple, 4-2, and fell twice to Army, 4-1 and 7-1. "It seemed like we really came out aggressive and did some things well on Saturday," freshman Heidi Albrecht said. "[Yesterday], we really struggled to get hits at the right time." Albrecht, who plays backup catcher and designated player, had a solid weekend with the bat. Albrecht consistently gave Temple pitchers headaches on Saturday, as she went 5-of-8 and tallied five RBI. Albrecht was 2-for-5 on Sunday with one RBI. "I was just trying to go up to the plate and hit the ball hard every time," Albrecht said. "On Saturday I was hitting really well with runners in scoring position, [Yesterday] I was hitting the ball hard, but we just couldn't seem to get any runs." The biggest problem throughout the young season for the Quakers has been an inability to consistently score runs. After opening play on Saturday with six runs, the Quakers managed a total of only four runs over the next three games. "We really didn't have very much offensive production all weekend, but especially on Sunday," senior co-captain Suzanne Arbogast said. Arbogast pitched well in the last game of the weekend against Army, but the Quakers struggled to put runs on the board. "We came out really strong in the first game, but from then out we really kind of died down," Ranta said. "In the last game, Suzanne was pitching great, but we just didn't bat well and we made some critical errors." The Quakers will take today off before returning to practice tomorrow to get ready for Wednesday's home game against Lehigh. "We are going to have to come out ready and be more aggressive batting," Albrecht said. "We need to sharpen up our defense because we had too many errors over the weekend." If Penn is to get back on the winning side of things on Wednesday, chances are that the Red and Blue will have to score a bunch. Lehigh, which is coming off of a two-game sweep of Bucknell, has been hitting the ball superbly of late. An experienced Engineers squad, which returned all but two starters from last year, has tallied a total of 24 runs over their past four games. Despite their strong play in recent games, Lehigh is definitely not unbeatable. Before winning two against Bucknell, Lehigh, which stands at 14-16 on the season, had dropped six of its previous seven. "Our practices are going fine. And we are hitting the ball well in practice, so we just need to be excited about each and every game we come out and play," Arbogast said. Penn's game this Wednesday against Lehigh will be the team's final chance to prepare for the Ivy League season, which is looming right around the corner. The Quakers open play against the rest of the Ancient Eight on April 8 in a home doubleheader against Yale.