While this week's nasty weather disrupted the Penn softball team's Philadelphia-area schedule, the team hopes that the weekend of Ivy League competition will bring bright results.
The Red and Blue will take a bus north to its doubleheaders against Yale tomorrow and Brown on Sunday.
The Elis (9-16) and the Bears (9-12) play their first Ivy League games this weekend, while Penn (6-15-1, 0-2 Ivy) played two close games with Princeton last week.
The Quakers lost by a single run after being tied late in both matchups with the Tigers.
Penn was also scheduled to face crosstown-rival Temple (15-15, 5-1 Atlantic 10) in a single game at Warren Field yesterday. However, the game was postponed due to poor field conditions resulting from rain, giving the Quakers one less concern heading into this crucial weekend of league games. While last weekend Penn lost to last year's Ivy League champion Princeton, the state of the Quakers is definitely on the upside, with its offense, defense and pitching finally coming together consistently.
"There was some timely hitting at Princeton," Penn coach Carol Kashow said. "We left people on base, but we are going toe-to-toe with some good teams."
Kashow got the chance to see Yale play at the Rebel Spring Games in Florida over spring break. Her reaction was one of respect, but not fear.
"Yale is doing some nice things right now, but they didn't exactly send us home shaking in our boots," Kashow said. "We are very excited about the prospects of the Ivy League at this point."
Kashow had similar feelings about the Bears' squad.
"Brown is always a really competitive team," Kashow said. "They have a couple kids that hit long balls, and a couple freshmen that are helping pick up the team a little bit.
"But it's nothing we haven't played against and nothing we haven't already beaten."
The Red and Blue split their New Haven doubleheader two seasons ago and last season split with the Eils at home. The Quakers are looking to do that and more tomorrow.
And for the first time in a while, the team has the attitude it needs to win on the road.
"They're starting to know and believe how good they are," Kashow said. "It is not by chance that we beat Syracuse or lost by one run to the Ivy League champs or regionally known Fordham.
"Our record isn't reflective of our ability, but depending on whether you are winning or losing, the ball just bounces different ways."
Freshman infielder Jen Nichols echoed Kashow's sentiments, seeing the team's attitude gradually improving over the course of the season.
"We definitely improved on [our team attitude] against Princeton," Nichols said. "But at this point, I don't think that's an issue anymore."
While four games in two days might seem trying, neither Kashow nor Nichols were worried about the intense scheduling.
"Each player has come from very strong programs, so they have all been there and done that," Kashow said. "Our practices are very physically demanding, so when you practice that hard, it's just natural to you."
In fact, there are many benefits to intense weekends over mid-week games.
"It's better not having to go to class, run out, change, and play," Kashow said. "We have better concentration on weekends because we can relax and get into just softball mode."
