Three Up, Three Down: Softball vs. Monmouth

The Quakers have been absolutely dominant at home this season, only dropping one game last Saturday to Dartmouth. Their dominance at home came after a disappointing showing in Florida, but coach Leslie King and her staff inspired confidence and consistency into this Penn squad. So in this non-conference showdown, who will be up and who will be down?

Three Up —

Alexis Borden: Borden has been ‘striking’ fear into opponents this season. She’s currently second in the Ivy League with 91 strikeouts and her ERA of 1.94 is good for fifth. She pitched her second career no-hitter in Penn’s home opener against Lafayette and hurled seven shutout innings against Lehigh. She’s been on fire and there’s no sign of her slowing down.

Penn’s defense: Leslie King has built an intimidating defense, led by seniors Samantha Erosa and Stephanie Caso, who have performed well in their defensive and offensive duties. This defense has gotten Penn out of some frightening situations, including a few scenarios against Harvard in which freshman pitcher Linda Li needed some help getting out a few jams with runners on base. Luckily for the newcomer, though, she was able to escape with little damage thanks to the work of all eight other Quakers on the field.

Confidence: As aforementioned, the Red and Blue have only lost once since they’ve been home. They’ve racked up 59 runs and only allowed 20 (including three shutouts). Every team member talks about how this is “Penn softball,” and that’s the kind of confidence that comes in handy at this point of the season.

Three Down —

Hitting: Despite the number of runs Penn has racked up in this stretch of home games, the inconsistency the team struggled with in Florida could always rear its ugly head. If the Quakers lose the ability to connect and connect often, they will have to rely on their defense heavily, which can really drain energy from such a recently offensively explosive team.

On-Base execution: While this hasn’t been a glaring issue for the Quakers, it has the tendency to come up every now and then. Mental mistakes and lack of communication have cost the Red and Blue a few runs throughout the last few games. Penn must make sure it consistently moves runners around the diamond.

Getting behind: Monmouth has an excellent record (11-1) when leading in any inning after the third. If Penn struggles as it did in its game against St. Joseph’s when the Quakers fell behind, 4-0, after the first three innings, Leslie King’s squad could find itself in a bind quickly. Penn needs hitters like freshman catcher Korinne Raby, senior second baseman Samantha Erosa and senior outfielder Jessica Melendez to score and score early. Penn’s defense has proven itself this season, but relying too heavily on that ‘D’ again could spell trouble.