Leslie King is looking for "city bragging rights."
Even though the Quakers' Ivy League Championship hopes have come and gone, they still have plenty for which to play.
Penn (21-19) will face city rival Drexel (21-16) at home today in a doubleheader at Warren Field. The Dragons are Penn's last non-league opponents.
The Red and Blue will look to carry the momentum from Sunday's doubleheader against Princeton, when they handed the Tigers their only Ivy League loss in game one and fell a run short of a furious seven-run comeback in game two.
"We played pretty good softball on Sunday," King said. "We competed and battled so I think that's gotta help moving forward and make us feel pretty good facing Drexel."
Besides getting city bragging rights, there are a couple of other goals Penn would like to accomplish before the season is finished. The Quakers will go into the games against Drexel three games short of breaking the all-time wins record for the program. That mark was set last year, when Penn won 23 games en route to an Ivy League South Division Championship.
The team would also like to have senior tri-captains, Christina Khosravi and Annie Kinsey end their careers on a high note.
"From the beginning, we wanted to be able to send them off with an Ivy Championship," freshman Jessie Lupardus said. "But if we can end up with a winning record, that will be a good thing to send them off with."
Kinsey knows that her softball career is coming to an end, but isn't letting that get in the way just yet.
"Win or lose, I want to have a good time with the girls, have fun out on the field and do my job," Kinsey said. "I want to be in the moment."
Lupardus will be in the circle for the Quakers in game one, hoping to win her 17th game of the season. As for who will be pitching for game two, that has yet to be decided.
"We might try some different things with our pitching staff," King said. "I will talk to my players first."
King declined to reveal her plans, but did say to expect some changes in game two. She said that there may be a tweak in the lineup as well.
Even though there are only a few games left, King believes the team's best softball has yet to come.
"I would really like to get a consistent effort from all of my players resulting in good-quality, error-free softball," King said. "We still have yet to have a game where we get every aspect of play right. To have our pitching, hitting and defense all play well would be really nice."
Kinsey also believes her team is capable of doing more than it has shown so far this season.
"We never really crush a team. I'm hoping that today, we can get a big inning and string a bunch of hits together. I would like to have that carry into the weekend."
