The Penn women's softball team will return to action today as they travel to Lehigh University for a mid-week doubleheader.
The Quakers (11-17) are coming off a less-than-satisfying weekend in which they opened Ivy League play with a pair of disappointing losses against Princeton.
After being shut down at the plate against the Tigers, things won't be getting any easier today.
Lehigh (15-8) is red-hot coming into today's game in Bethlehem, Pa. The Engineers have won 13 of their last 15 and are an unblemished 5-0 on their home diamond this year.
Over the weekend, Penn was let down mostly by lack of productivity on the offensive end.
The Red and Blue mustered only two runs against Princeton. The bats did heat up on Sunday, however, producing 13 runs in the split against Rider.
Penn will need continued productivity from its batters today.
Lehigh is led by a talented pitching staff. The team currently has a paper-thin ERA of 1.52 and ace Jenny Bender's is even lower than that (1.22).
But the Penn hitters are still confident in their ability to put runs on the board.
"We've been hitting the ball really well, it's just been going right at the fielders lately," Penn junior Deborah Kowalchuk said, "I'm not too worried about it."
The one consistent bright spot over the weekend was the continued dominance of sophomore pitcher Nicole Borgstadt.
Borgstadt pitched just over 18 innings against Princeton and Rider and allowed only four earned runs.
"I've just been trying to keep the ball inside," Borgstadt said. "I'm really trying to keep the ball on the ground and pitch towards the strength of the defense. They've been playing great lately."
In order for Penn to be successful today, they will need Borgstadt and the rest of the pitching staff to keep Lehigh off the basepaths.
That is much easier said than done, however.
Lehigh will be sending an excellent group of hitters to face the Penn staff. The Engineers have seven players in their lineup who are currently hitting over .300.
Bender is Lehigh's leader at the plate as well, hitting a gaudy .405 on the season.
The Quakers will have to hold her in check all afternoon if they want to get back on their winning ways heading into another Ivy League weekend.
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