Softball opens season with four straight wins

The Penn softball team started out the season in fine form over break, emerging undefeated from its first four games.

But just as the team was getting into the swing of things, it faltered against some tough opposition and dropped its next six games.

Penn coach Leslie King attributed the team's early success to the Quakers' hitting and solid defensive performances.

"We hit the ball particularly well and played pretty well on defense in the first four games," she said of the victories over Chapman, Ursuline, Greensboro and Methodist.

Sophomore shortstop Christina Khosravi led the team's offense, hitting .467 while scoring seven runs on 14 hits in the 10 games.

Khosravi's efforts were supplemented by junior Stephanie Reichert, who also had 14 hits and is averaging .389 at the plate.

But the solid offense wasn't enough to carry the Quakers (4-6) over Loyola Marymount, Cal State Northridge or Loyola Chicago, the three schools that handed Penn its six losses on the last half of the trip.

King attributed this to the team's poor pitching, which surrendered many home runs. She also cited certain occasions where the defense failed to come through.

"We needed to pitch a little better," she said. "We didn't make many errors on defense, but there were some plays that I thought we could have made and we didn't."

The Quakers' biggest blow came last Friday against Loyola Marymount, when sophomore pitcher Michelle Rehm was forced to leave the game with a broken pitching hand.

The injury is likely to keep Rehm off the mound for at least six weeks.

However, King described the trip as a good learning experience for the team, especially the freshmen, who played mainly supporting roles as pinch runners and hitters.

Freshman pitcher Emily Denstedt had a particularly strong performance, earning a win against Chapman during her college debut.

Denstedt then went on to pitch a complete game against Greensboro in her second appearance for the Quakers, which resulted in another win for the young pitcher.

Overall, King was pleased with the team's performance but highlighted pitching as the area in which the squad will focus improving for the upcoming games.

"From a pitching standpoint, we need to contain the other team," King said. "We need to keep the ball in the park and give our defense the chance to make some plays. If we can do that, then we'll be just fine."

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