In high school, all it takes is seven innings. The eight freshmen on the Penn softball team are learning that to be successful in college, it takes 14.
At 1 p.m. tomorrow, the Quakers will take the field for the first of two contests. Like all game days this season, Penn will have to play a doubleheader.
"The doubleheader is a beast that the upperclassmen are very used to," freshman pitcher Jessie Lupardus said. "I think us freshmen are just realizing that it does take a lot of focus to go through two straight seven-inning games."
Penn (10-4) is coming off an historic spring break: Its 8-2 record at the Rebel Spring Games in Florida was its best tournament performance ever.
The Quakers have already faced Monmouth (2-9-1) in the Sunshine State. Penn came out convincingly on top, 9-2.
"They are a very scrappy team. Even when we beat them, they were getting runners on and chipping away," coach Leslie King said. "They certainly don't give up, and I expect them to be battling very hard against us to show that they can play better."
The Quakers have shown that they're good, but they haven't yet proven that they can be good all the time.
In their two doubleheaders before spring break - the only times they have played the same team back-to-back - they won the opener before losing the nightcap.
Consistency will be the goal for the Quakers this weekend.
"We usually come out strong in the first game," senior co-captain Christina Khosravi said. "And then sometimes someone needs to say something, or we actually give up a couple runs, to get us going for the second game."
King said that the Quakers will be especially looking for stability on offense, as the pitching staff established its power in Florida.
Lupardus was named Ivy League Pitcher of the Week for the second straight week as she picked up either the win or save in all 10 of the Quakers' victories. She is 8-1 with two saves, an 0.41 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 51.1 innings.
Add in junior captain Emily Denstedt - who King says is returning to her form of last season, when she tied the Quakers single-season record for wins and was named first- team All-Ivy - and Penn is confident that its pitching staff can shut down any opponent.
But Monmouth's pitching staff is its strength, too. Junior righthander Kristine Sawlsville ammassed 17 victories, threw a no-hitter and led the Northeast Conference with a 1.59 ERA last season.
This weekend is one of Penn's two final tune-ups before Ivy League competition starts next weekend against Yale. With an Ivy crown in their dreams, the Quakers know they need to work out the kinks before the big time starts.
"There are just a lot of things we could do better, so we're not satisfied with where we are," King said. "We've got a lot of work to do to get to the place we want to be when Ivy play starts."
