Softball hopes to win two in final Ivy tune-up

The Quakers travel to Lehigh for a doubleheader, hoping to pick up their offense. The Penn softball team will have one more chance today to tune up a sputtering offense before the Quakers open their Ivy League season this weekend. The Red and Blue will head to Bethlehem, Pa., for a 3:30 p.m. game against Lehigh. The Quakers, who stand at 9-16-1, will be looking to gain some momentum heading into their Ancient Eight opener this Saturday at home against Yale. "This gives us a chance to build up our confidence heading into the Ivy League season if we can get two wins," senior first baseman Kari Dennis said. "We want to try to hit the ball hard, play some solid defense and just make sure that we have worked out any kinks." If Penn is to have success at Lehigh and, more importantly, for the rest of the season, the team will need to up its offensive output. The Quakers have struggled of late to get runners across the plate. Penn, which did manage six runs in their 6-2 victory over Temple last Saturday, has scored only four total runs in their last three games, all of which were losses. "We need to come out aggressively and try and play our best," Penn head coach Carol Kashow said. "We scored six runs against a tough Temple team, so we know we can do it." Offensive inconsistency has definitely been the Red and Blue's most pronounced weakness thus far. The biggest problem has been an inability to get hits with runners in scoring position. "I think at this point it is more of a mental than a physical obstacle," senior co-captain Suzanne Arbogast said. "We're hitting well in practice, but it just isn't happening in the games." One pleasant surprise for the Quakers in this young season has been the remarkable ability of numerous freshmen to make major contributions. Freshman hurler Becky Ranta has made an immediate impact, being credited with six of Penn's nine wins. Ranta has also pitched an impressive four complete games. "We had some people step up and play well over the weekend, but we just didn't get enough runs," Ranta said. "We're not playing badly, but we need to be more consistent and play as a team." Lehigh could definitely present the Quakers with some problems. The Engineers are playing much better after a slow start and have won two straight games. The Engineers may be back on the winning track, but they lost six of seven before taking both games in their doubleheader against Bucknell. Penn will probably be going against junior pitcher Emily Deia in the first game. Deia has been pitching well of late and stands at 8-5 on the year. The Engineers' offensive attack is led by sophomore third baseman Chris Duncan, who is batting .342. "We all know that it's important for us to come out and play well against Lehigh," Dennis said. "The Ivy League season is the most important, so everyone is getting excited and pumped up for that."