The Quakers dispatched Dartmouth in a hard-fought contest that featured clashes in all aspects of the game. With a bit of home-field inspiration and fuel from their deep senior leadership, Penn edged the Big Green in the deciding third game of their series, 3-2.

Penn Park was bursting with excited fans and an electric energy as the Penn softball team took on Dartmouth in the first Ivy League Championship series to ever be played on Penn soil. The Quakers failed to wrap up the title with a sweep, edging the Big Green in the first matchup, 1-0, and losing the second game, 6-2.

Penn dispatched the Lions, 2-1 and 12-4, respectively, providing an emotionally charged ending to the season for the Quakers (28-17, 16-4 Ivy) and their first home-field advantage in program history.

The Penn softball team, on the path to winning the Ivy League championship, suffered a hiccup in an otherwise stellar season when it blew the second game of a doubleheader against Cornell on Saturday.But The Quakers recovered nicely, winning both games Sunday to finish the weekend with a 3-1 series victory.

This weekend, Penn softball travels to Ithaca, N.Y. to take on Ivy South rival Cornell in a series that the Quakers hope will help secure their top Ivy ranking.

Penn (21-15) did not score an earned run on the day but took advantage of three critical errors by the Dragons, (12-29) winning 3-2.

Softball isn’t always considered a banner sport, not drawing the massive crowds that football and basketball do perennially. But the Quakers have shown this year that they are no ordinary Ivy team.

Penn started the weekend off by splitting games with Princeton — winning, 10-9, and then losing, 5-3 — before sweeping the Jersey rivals the next day, 9-2 and 5-4.

After a promising weekend Ivy League sweep, Penn once again struggled in their mid-week clash, as the Quakers committed four errors and only connected for three hits en route to a 9-0 shutout against Villanova.

Armed with hot bats and a well-rounded pitching rotation, the Quakers (17-13, 0-2 Big 5) will take on Villanova (14-20, 2-2) Thursday night at Penn Park.

Penn softball’s Elysse Gorney finds a constant source of inspiration in her late brother, Greg.

Penn (17-13, 7-1 Ivy) swept Yale (7-21, 3-5) courtesy of back-to-back shutouts, 7-0 and 9-0, respectively. Then the Quakers swept Brown (7-16, 1-7) in two more solid performances, 7-1 and 6-4.

After narrowly losing to the Hawks in the first game of a doubleheader, 2-1, the Quakers imploded in the second contest of the day, falling 17-2.

Due to Ivy League regulations, until this year Ancient Eight squads have been prohibited from starting their seasons before March 1. Across other conferences, many squads start in the second week of February.

In their opening weekend of conference play, the Quakers (13-11, 3-1 Ivy) swept Harvard for the first time since 2003, defeating the defending-champion Crimson on Friday at Penn Park, 6-3 and 7-2.

Charming their teammates with mischief and athleticism alike, seniors and New York natives Stephanie Caso and Samantha Erosa anchor the Quakers’ defense at shortstop and second base, respectively.

Sophomore Alexis Borden continued her pitching dominance by throwing a no-hitter until the seventh inning, giving the Quakers a 5-1 victory over Holy Cross in the first game of the doubleheader Saturday afternoon.