Easter weekend was a sweet one for the Penn softball team, as the Quakers celebrated the holiday with a 3-1 win over Columbia.
The second of four games on the weekend against Ivy League opponents, the win broke Penn's 12-game losing streak and marked its first Ivy League victory of the season.
Needless to say, this win could not have come at a better time for the Red and Blue.
"We have been playing really well lately and were just waiting for the luck to come our way and get some breaks," sophomore outfielder Zahya Hantz said.
"We got some really bad calls recently, but you can't really do anything about that, so we just stuck with it and played really well on Friday."
After dropping the first game to the Lions, 3-0, the Quakers came out swinging. They got the rally they needed in the second inning keyed by Hantz's double off Columbia pitcher Allison Buehler to lead off the second.
Back-to-back Columbia errors moved Hantz across the plate and put freshman Jen Nichols and sophomore Kimberly Le on base. A third Lions error helped score Le and put the Red and Blue on top, 2-0.
This was a welcome change after the Red and Blue only notched three hits in its first game against Columbia.
"I hit the ball to a hole, and hitting is contagious," Hantz said. "So that picked up our spirits and we started getting pumped.
"As long as you're focused, you're going to hit the ball hard, so I just hit it hard."
Penn scored an insurance run in the sixth inning, when junior Erin O'Brien crossed home plate after a single by Le.
Columbia began to mount comebacks in the sixth and seventh innings, but failed to capitalize on them, only getting one run on five hits in the final two innings.
Hantz credits the team's defense and pitching in maintaining the lead after timely hitting by the Quakers.
"We took the lead and played hard all the way through," Hantz said. "The difference was that on Friday we played a full game and did not allow our pitching and defense to let up."
Unfortunately for Penn, Saturday was not as nice to the Quakers, as the team dropped both of its games to Cornell, 2-0 and 6-1.
Senior pitcher Rebecca Ranta only allowed four hits to a Big Red team infamous for its power hitting, but it turned out that four was more than enough, as Cornell pitcher Sarah Sterman did not give up a single hit.
The Red and Blue smacked three hits in the second game in Ithaca, but by that time, the Big Red arsenal had launched its attack, and the Quakers were unable to recover.
But despite all that, the Quakers left New York last weekend with the thing they needed most -- a win.
"It's hard, but I think that some people's confidence is starting to come around, especially with the win," Hantz said. "We can all see that we are playing really well."
