For Lupardus, a new Sweet Home in Philly

Freshman Jess Lupardus has an interesting explanation for her success from the pitcher's circle.

The Birmingham, Ala. native grew up with her single mother, who played volleyball at the University of Alabama. Her father died from heart failure after a triple bypass surgery when she was only a year old.

Lupardus feels that his absence has actually made her a better softball player.

"A lot of the girls I was with were out there because their dads wanted them to be, and they eventually burned out," she said. "I think not being forced to do something because my dad wanted me to told me to be more intrinsically motivated to achieve."

Lupardus, who is 14-5 with a 1.03 earned run average in her rookie campaign, began playing when she was five years old. But she did not know that softball was her passion until she met her pitching coach, Adam Kirkpatrick, her freshman year of high school.

Kirkpatrick was a men's fast pitch pitcher himself, and Lupardus credits all of her pitching success to him.

"He was able to take me and my set of skills, and get me to spin the ball as much as possible," Lupardus said. "And that's worked well so far."

A graduate of Hoover High - Alabama's most dominant high school football program this decade and the site of MTV's Two-A-Day's - Lupardus finished off her senior season with a Herculean feat with a state tournament berth on the line.

Playing in a three-game series against interstate rival Clay-Chalkville High School - a squad Lupardus called "the best team in the state with a ton of really good bats" - Hoover dropped the opener after Lupardus surrendered a late-inning homer.

Needing back-to-back wins to advance, Lupardus pitched the next 24 innings, including all 17 innings of game two. She held her opponent scoreless over all 10 extra innings and then pitched a complete game shutout in game three, leading Hoover to the Alabama softball promised land.

"That's a feat that I had never done before, being able to find the second wind and dig down deep from somewhere that's not physical because your body is completely drained," Lupardus said. "I think that was probably the best sports experience I've ever had."

Softball heroism aside, Lupardus has a strong passion for music. Those who did not know her as a softball player in high school knew her as a choir girl.

"She's got a great voice and she likes music a lot," freshman catcher Alisha Prystowsky said. "She sings a lot, and is very serious about it."

Lupardus still plays piano and guitar as well, both of which she taught herself. She says she plays in her spare time and uses them as "extra therapy" when life at Penn seems a bit too daunting.

In fact, softball had little do with Lupardus' decision to come to West Philly. She has always had a dream to venture north and also really liked Penn's Psychology department.

"What's important to me is the degree at the end of the four years," Lupardus said. "I want to be playing ball, but being on a big championship women's college softball team is not that important to me."

Coach Leslie King knew right away that Lupardus was going to be right for Penn.

"When I saw her throw a couple summers ago she moved the ball more than anybody I've seen in a very long time," King said.

Whatever the reason for her arrival, King is thrilled to have a bonafide ace on call.

"It's huge for us to give her that ball the first game and be very confident to get the win," King said. "Getting the first game of that doubleheader gives us momentum, and I will not be afraid to start her two games in a row if she is ready."

After college, Lupardus only sees herself remaining connected to softball at the coaching level. Above all, she wants to be a family-oriented person.

"I wanna get my degree, be happy, be comfortable and have a family, and that's the most important thing to me above anything else. And I'm not sure that people know that."

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