After a slow start to spring training in Orlando -- three straight losses -- the Quakers softball team recovered to win four out of the five remaining games before returning home.
Most notable was an improvement in hitting, with several players topping the .300 mark.
"Our hitting was very, very good," Coach Leslie Moore said. "We need to pick up a little bit of slack in the pitching and defense categories, but offensively we were very good."
Freshman infielder Christina Khosravi led the offensive charge by hitting .429 in the nine games. Sophomore catcher Brandi King is second at .385, and freshman second baseman Annie Kinsey is hitting .379, including four extra-base hits.
The Quakers, looking to improve on last season's 10-31-1 record, started spring training with losses to Lehigh, 5-2, and Fairfield, 5-3, at the NCAA's Rebel Spring Games.
Penn faced Lehigh again on the second day. This time the Quakers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. But a three-run sixth inning put the Mountain Hawks ahead, 4-2, and they went on to win, 6-2.
Later in the second day, the Quakers got their first win, narrowly defeating Toledo, 3-2.
Penn suffered another loss when they fell to Loyola, 7-1, but then rebounded to win three games in a row against Holy Cross, 8-3, Robert Morris, 9-4, and Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, 12-5.
In the win against IPFW, the Quakers were down by two runs going into the seventh and final inning, but rallied to tie the game and send it in to extra innings. But Penn continued to streak, putting up seven runs in the top of the eighth to put the game out of reach.
The Quakers' three-game win streak ended on the final day of their trip with a 12-2 loss to Wagner in five innings.
Despite losing several close games early on, Penn is still upbeat about the rest of the season, and the hitting is a major reason.
The Quakers hit .296 on the road trip, 71 points higher than last season's .225 team batting average.
And that's certainly a reason to be positive.
"The team is very optimistic," Moore said. "If we pull our defense and pitching together we're going to be tough to beat."
