Softball heads home from Delaware feeling blue

After starting its season with a series tough losses and near-wins, the Penn softball team was beginning to finally bring it all together.

With recent wins against Troy State and Lafayette, the Quakers (8-14) headed into their doubleheader at Delaware this weekend full of confidence and momentum.

However, this conviction did not prove to be enough. The Red and Blue fell to the Blue Hens in the first game, 5-1, and again in the second, 3-2.

"We didn't play up to our potential today," Penn freshman Kristi Hackett said. "We were disappointed because we knew we could play better."

In the first game of the doubleheader, Delaware immediately came out strong, plating four runs in the bottom of the second inning.

Blue Hens freshman Randi Isaacs commenced the scoring frenzy, hitting a double to left field. She scored the first run on a dropped fly ball hit by sophomore Laurie Erickson.

Delaware junior Brooke May followed by knocking in junior Melissa Basilio and sophomore Laura Street with a double to center field. Erickson scored the final run of the inning off of a single to the left side by senior Mandy Welch.

The Blue Hens continued to dominate the scoreboard into the third inning, with Basilio scoring their fifth and final run off of Erickson's right field triple.

The Quakers were able to keep the Blue Hens off the board for the remainder of the game, but could only manage a single run. Penn sophomore Erin O'Brien smashed an RBI double to centerfield in the seventh inning, driving Hackett home.

In the second game, Delaware kept the runs coming. Again, Isaacs was the catalyst, leading off the second inning with a single and scoring on Streets' RBI double to center field. Streets crossed the plate on a Penn throwing error to make the score 2-0.

The Quakers wouldn't score their first run until the fourth inning when rookie Kimberly Le was driven home on a single by her fellow freshman Zahya Hantz.

Back in the game, the Quakers continued to find success at the plate. In the sixth, O'Brien slammed the ball down the left-field line before being taken out of the game when senior Lindsay Wagner was sent in to pinch run for her. Wagner scored Penn's second run on freshman Courtney Dilts' single.

The Quakers held the Blue Hens scoreless until the seventh inning, when May, after being walked, scored on a Amanda Cariello's doubled.

The losses this weekend were especially tough for Penn since they had swept Delaware last season.

Yet, the Quakers have their eye on the bigger picture -- challenging for the Ivy League title -- and said that they will not let the losses discourage them from that goal.

"We're just going to try and get the job done like we know that we can," Hackett said.

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