Ever since they began practicing in January, the young Quakers have been anxiously awaiting their first taste of collegiate softball.
They were supposed to begin their season on Saturday, but forecasted inclement delayed their opener further.
On Sunday, the Red and Blue finally took the field against Lafayette, but even then they had to wait 11 innings to find out the result of their first game.
With two outs, the bases loaded and the game tied, Christina Khosravi slapped the ball up the middle. The Leopards' shortstop fielded the ball on the outfield grass, but the force at second was late, and Diana Ark crossed the plate for the win.
"It felt really great, I jumped up and gave my assistant coach a big hug," said Khosvari, who was 0-for-3 before that at-bat. "She knew I was due and knew I would come through."
Although they dropped the second half of the twinbill, 1-0. the 4-3 win gave the Quakers the start they wanted.
Eight players on the 14-woman roster are freshmen, and the team knew that an early victory would be a big confidence booster.
"To win the extra inning game was huge," coach Leslie King said. "We had a lot of runners on base and to finally come through and score that winning run was very satisfying."
Freshman pitcher Jessie Lupardus came in to pitch the final two innings and get the win. It was her first outing of her college career.
"I had some butterflies," Lupardus said, "but I was pretty confident. After you get a win, it always gives you a little momentum coming into the next game."
That next game was only minutes away, and Lupardus dominated. She pitched all five innings - the game was called due to darkness - striking out 10 while only allowing two walks and five hits.
But as the weather got colder, so did the Quakers' bats, and the offense squandered Lupardus' strong effort.
The team could only muster up two hits and left seven runners on base.
The game-winning hit came for Lafayette in the fourth inning as Kristen Ruckno singled home Stacey Kushner.
The Leopards added two more runs in the top of the sixth, but Penn was unable to finish its at-bat in the bottom, thus nullifying the inning.
"They came up with the big hit and we didn't," King said. "We knew before we started we were only gonna get five innings in, so we knew if we didn't score early if was going to be a struggle."
King was happy with her young team's performance.
"We are going to make some freshman mistakes," King said. "As long as we keep improving and learn from our mistakes, that is all I can ask for."
Their next test will come tomorrow, when they begin a long road stretch. The Quakers will face Delaware and then head to Florida for 10 games over spring break.
They don't return home until the Ivy League opener against Yale on March 29.
