The Penn softball team is coming off of a weekend that the Quakers would love to soon forget.
After losing the opener last weekend to Cornell, 18-0, the four-game set continued to go downhill.
The Quakers went on to lose another game to Cornell and then proceeded to get swept Sunday against Columbia.
The Red and Blue mustered only 15 hits over the four game stretch and were outscored 24-2.
The Quakers were not able to hit any better yesterday, either. Temple held them to just two hits as Penn lost its sixth straight game, 2-0.
"We just need to hit better with runners in scoring position," said junior outfielder Deborah Kowalchuk who went 4 for 10 last weekend. "We must have better at-bats; stop taking so many strikes and swinging at bad pitches."
Penn hopes it can improve at the plate in time for this weekend's pair of Ivy doubleheaders.
The Quakers will be hitting the road to take on Ivy League foes Dartmouth and Harvard, both of whom are sporting winning records and are at least .500 in the league.
Dartmouth is coming off a weekend split and is led by pitcher Karin Edwardson. Edwardson is a perfect 7-0 on the season and sports a sparkling 1.59 ERA.
Harvard -- for its own part -- enters this weekend with a full head of steam. The Crimson have not lost a game since March 27, reeling off 10 straight wins.
Sarah Koppel leads the way for the Crimson. She was named Ivy League Player of the Week after hitting a home run in three of four league games last week.
Like the Big Green, Harvard also has a formidable pitching staff. Suzanne Guy leads the team with a 1.41 ERA and overall Harvard's hurlers are holding opponents to just over two runs each contest.
Also working against the Red and Blue is the fact that they will be without sophomore Erin O'Brien, who was hit by a pitch Sunday against Columbia.
The pitch broke the first baseman's hand and she will be out for the remainder of the season.
Yet, despite the loss of the team's fourth-best hitter -- before the injury O'Brien ranked fourth on the team with a .293 batting average -- the Red and Blue remain that they will have a better showing this weekend.
"We won't be playing scared," Kowalchuk said.
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