First times are always special.
With a 12-10 victory over Dartmouth on Saturday, the Penn women's softball team not only won its first Ivy League game of the season, but also gave first-year coach Leslie King Moore her first career Ivy League win.
The Quakers salvaged what could have been a disastrous weekend by winning the last game of the four-game road trip. Penn lost the opener to the Big Green, 11-1, and was swept a day earlier by Harvard, 2-0 and 9-6.
"It was unfortunate it took us six games ... but it felt great," freshman pitcher Lindsey Permar said of the Quakers' first Ivy win.
In Saturday's win, the Red and Blue not only showed their share of perseverance and grit, but also signs of breaking out of their recent offensive slump.
The team that had scored just seven runs in the past four games exploded for seven runs in the first two innings against Dartmouth hurler Ashley Thorfinnson.
The key play was a first-inning two-out grand slam by freshman Brandi King, her first home run of the year.
"It felt amazing," King said. "What else can you say about a thing like that?"
Although the Quakers jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, Dartmouth would not make it easy. After slowly chipping away, the Big Green tied the game at eight after a grand slam by Jodee Thompson. Fortunately, the Quakers responded.
Taking advantage of some Dartmouth miscues, the Red and Blue tacked on four runs in the sixth.
Permar, who replaced senior pitcher Nicki Borgstadt in the fifth inning, was able to hold onto the lead for the win.
The Quakers collected 11 hits on the game, as King, senior Erin O'Brien and freshman Erin Boyle collected two hits apiece. O'Brien and King combined to drive in seven of the Quakers' season-high total of 12 runs.
Permar ended what was an up-and-down week for the Quakers on a high note. After setting the single season strikeout record in a loss against Temple earlier in the week, the Perkasie, Pa., native took another hard luck loss against Harvard on Friday, despite not giving up an earned run in that game.
Permar then lasted only an inning and two-thirds in the opener against Dartmouth, before returning in the finale to get the win.
"To be quite honest, I felt terrible," Permar said of her first appearance against Dartmouth. "Our offense got on the board early, and I let them down."
The Quakers will face a busy schedule this upcoming week. The team will take on Big 5 rivals Villanova tomorrow and La Salle in a make-up game on Thursday, before hosting Yale and Brown this weekend.
"We just need to play good softball, good pitching, hitting and defense," Permar said. "We can compete with these teams, but we haven't yet put the three pieces together yet, and I think everyone's aware of that."
