There is a first time for everything, including becoming a giant-killer. Annie Kinsey helped deliver it to Penn in a big way.
Kinsey hit two big home runs in the second game of the Quakers' doubleheader against division-leading Cornell Saturday, as Penn took the second game 6-5.
"I've never done that before," Kinsey said when asked about her two home-run effort.
After getting shut out in the first game 4-0, the Quakers (19-13, 10-4 Ivy) stayed in title hunt with the victory in the second.
"Since [Penn coach Leslie King] has been here, we've never beaten Cornell," Kinsey, a junior, said.
In the first game, Cornell pitcher Jenn Meunier dumbfounded the Penn hitters.
The Quakers got off to a terrible start, stranding two on first and second with no outs in the first inning.
"I'd like to give credit to Cornell's pitcher," King said. "She changed speeds very well."
Penn hurler Emily Denstedt, a sophomore, kept the Quakers in the game, dueling Meunier to a 1-0 game until the seventh inning. She "pitched a very, very strong game for six innings," according to King.
In the seventh inning, however, things quickly fell apart. Denstedt walked the leadoff hitter, and then surrendered a double, which scored one run for Cornell (27-8, 8-2). A passed ball and an error allowed the Big Red to score two more runs.
Meunier, on the other hand, pitched a complete game shutout for Cornell, allowing only four hits.
"We had runners on and we didn't really execute," Kinsey said. But "she definitely pitched a good game against us."
In the nightcap, with a new pitcher that did not "change speeds the way the first girl did," King said, Penn teed off.
The game was back-and-forth, with both sides taking leads, until the bottom of the second inning. With Penn down 2-1, two runners on, and two outs, Kinsey smashed her second home run, putting the Quakers up for good 4-2.
"Our coach told us about the lack of execution in the first game, so we came out firing in the second," Kinsey said.
The Big Red threatened twice more in the game, once at 4-3 in the fifth inning, and once at 6-5 in the seventh, but they couldn't take the lead again.
Penn was supposed to play Cornell again in a doubleheader yesterday, but it was rained out. The two teams will clash tomorrow at noon.
The Quakers will have to perform another first under King's tenure, sweeping the Big Red in a doubleheader series, in order to overtake Cornell in the league standings.
However, King summed up the tall task facing the Quakers very nicely: "The nice thing is our destiny is still in our own hands."
