'You have been awful': One year later

Today marks the one-year anniversary of one the most unique Penn sports scenes I have ever witnessed.

"You have been awful," softball coach Leslie King yelled at the home-plate umpire. "You have been awful. Everyone knows that you've been awful."

That came after a 10-second violation -- yes, in softball -- was called on pitcher Emily Denstedt. (And that wasn't even the most bizarre call; two innings earlier, the men in blue declined to call a hit-by-pitch, turning a walk-off win into a caught-stealing-third out.)

So we can use today to celebrate King's blunt assessment, matched only, perhaps, by Pat Knapp's unforgettable sayings.

It also gives us an excuse to reflect on softball's recent performance. At 6-17-1, the Quakers have the worst overall record, by 2.5 games, in the Ivy League. True, they're young, and they lost last year's stellar middle-infield tandem of Christina Khosravi and Annie Kinsey to graduation.

But numbers don't lie. Although Penn Athletics inexplicably provides incredibly detailed softball statistical breakdowns -- far more in depth than for any other sport -- it doesn't take budding sabermatricians to sort out the Red and Blue's ailments. Their on-base-plus-slugging percentage stands at a paltry .633, while opponents are hitting .323 against their staff. Only Jess Lupardus has an earned run average under 3.75, which is especially high for softball (a seven-inning sport). And Alisha Prystowsky accounts for all of the Quakers' homers and one-third of their extra-base hits.

That doesn't bode well for the Quakers. They did mercy La Salle, 9-1, on Wednesday, but they will need to follow that up with a string of strong performances to prove it was not a fluke.

Or, to honor King on this day, the verdict so far has been unfortunate but unmistakable: They have been awful.