By Krista Hutz
Sports Editor
hutzkm@sas.upenn.edu
It's all out of their hands now.
After finishing over .500 at 23-17 for the first time in 23 years, the Quakers have done their work this season.
And now the Penn softball team will have to wait for the results of the Cornell and Princeton clashes over the weekend to find out if it will get another game this season.
The Quakers had a chance to clinch the division last weekend and advance to the Ivy championship game with a sweep of Princeton and a little help from Columbia in its series against Cornell.
Penn got neither.
The Red and Blue went 2-2, splitting with Princeton 11-1 and 3-6 on Saturday and 6-3 and 4-3 on Sunday. Cornell swept the Lions to put the Big Red just one game back.
With a sweep of the Tigers, the Big Red would take the division, while winning three would force a playoff game with the Quakers for the title.
A Princeton sweep would also force the Red and Blue into a South Division playoff.
With nothing left to do but watch, coach Leslie King remains anxious, but confident.
"It's very, very difficult to sweep four games when they're playing back to back like that." King said. "We're still in a very good place."
And last weekend, as well as throughout the season, pitcher Emily Denstedt had a large part in putting the Quakers in current their favorable situation.
Denstedt pitched two complete games, as well as a combined 7.1 innings in the other pair of contests.
"Emily came into the weekend well-rested and has been pitching very well," King said. "We wanted to try to do everything we could to win as many games as we could . There was really nothing to save her for."
The Ivy League Co-Pitcher of the Week allowed a total of 21 hits and just nine earned runs across the board.
"They weren't hitting me all weekend," Denstedt said. King took "a gamble and put me in the fourth game, but I knew I had a good bullpen behind me."
She only pitched two that last game and allowed one run before being relieved by Erin Boyle.
Teresa Leyden and Annie Kinsey were strong for the Quakers at the plate. Kinsey had five hits on the weekend, including a double and five runs batted in.
Leyden launched her first career home run in the second game on Sunday to score two, as well as doubling to deep left to drive in a run on Saturday.
"She had some long at-bats," King said. "She fouled stuff off that was close and when the pitcher finally came into her she was finally able to get solid hits."
But for now, the Quakers will be waiting for the weekend and hoping for a Cornell-Princeton split.
