Softball prepares to pounce on Leopards

The Penn softball team has returned from Florida, but the Quakers will take to the road for their first game in the northeast of the 2001 season. The Quakers (4-10) will travel to Easton, Pa., today, where they will square off against Lafayette (1-9) in a doubleheader at 3 p.m. The Quakers were scheduled to play St. Joseph's on Sunday, as well, but that game was canceled. After having a difficult time in Orlando, where the Red and Blue went just 2-6, Penn went 2-4 in competition at Tampa. And although Penn would have hoped for a better record, the team can take solace in the fact that its performance improved significantly late in the trip. "We had a rough start in Orlando," Penn junior co-captain Lindsay Wagner said. "[But] as a team, we pulled together in Tampa and really got the job done." The greatest turnaround may very well have been in the club's defense. The Quakers committed 19 errors in eight games in Orlando, including one ill-fated day when they were guilty of 10 in a single doubleheader. But Penn tightened things up in Tampa, where they made 12 miscues in the field and played their first two errorless games of the young season. The Quakers feel that solid team defense is a necessary ingredient in putting together a victory over the Leopards. "In Orlando, our defense kind of fell apart," Wagner said, again highlighting the turnaround the team made between its two tournaments. "But in Tampa, we looked sharp in all aspects." The Quakers will look to carry that momentum up north with them, where they will face a team they have historically played well against. Penn swept last year's doubleheader against Lafayette at Warren Field, by scores of 8-0 and 4-1. The 2001 Leopards have only fashioned one win thus far and have been on the receiving end of several poundings, including a 19-0 loss to Campbell on March 14 at Buies Creek, N.C. Nonetheless, the Quakers are wary of Lafayette, which will play its first home games of the year today. "They are a quality team," Penn junior co-captain Clarisa Apostol said. "They're 1-9, but I wouldn't take that lightly because our record is 4-10." Wagner agreed that Penn is in no position to overlook any opponent. "I know they're not our strongest competition," she said. "But on any given day, who knows what's going to happen?" Sophomore Becky Ranta and freshman Nicole Borgstadt, who both pitched impressively in Florida last week, will work the doubleheader. Borgstadt, a native of Lenexa, Kansas, was particularly strong down south, where she finished with an ERA of 3.92. But whether the hard-throwing Borgstadt or the more experienced, control-oriented Ranta is out there, the Quakers feel equally confident playing behind both. "They both have their strengths," Wagner said. "And we feel comfortable with either of them on the mound."

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