Penn softball coach Leslie King knew her star player would be re-writing the record books this season.

With Penn softball's two star players, centerfielder Leah Allen and pitcher Alexis Sargent, both graduating at the end of the year, this year might represent Penn's last opportunity to utilize two program greats and capture an Ivy Championship.

This year, the Quakers (6-6) have welcomed in six new faces to the program, each with her own unique background set of skills. An interesting note on that recruiting class is the range of positions spanned, bringing in a pitcher, catcher, two infielders, an outfielder, and a utility player.

After a successful spring break trip to Clearwater, Florida, Penn softball’s season has officially started, and the Quakers are ready to make their mark in the Ivy League.

As a show of support, every member of the team wrote letters to Jen for Ms. Retzer to read to her daughter. The team also created a fundraising page for Retzer on Generosity.com that has raised $27,796 from 316 donors as of March 20.

Penn softball will host Rider on Saturday in a doubleheader, assuming weather permits the games to be played. The Quakers (4-6) were supposed to have their home opener this Wednesday against Lafayette, but that doubleheader was postponed because of inclement weather. The makeup date has not yet been announced.

The Quakers will open their 2017 season with an action-packed trip down to the Sunshine State. This will be the team’s first chance to generate some positive momentum after a disappointing 2016. More importantly, it will be a major measuring stick for the team and a precious opportunity to gauge the makeup of the team before the games start to count in the Ivy League standings.

Sometimes things just don't turn out as you expect them to. As the Penn softball team gears up for the final contests of the regular season this weekend against Columbia (13-30, 5-11 Ivy), that seems to be the overarching theme.

Don't let the name fool you, some members of Penn softball have become known for how hard they ball.

Penn softball came alive this week. With their first-ever four-game sweep of Cornell, the Quakers extended their winning streak to six games after dropping three of four to Princeton last weekend. “Taking four from a team in one weekend is really difficult to do,” Penn coach Leslie King said.

Maybe all they needed was just a little time away from the Ancient Eight. In a brief interlude from Ivy League competition, Penn took both games of a doubleheader against Saint Joesph's yesterday, defeating the Hawks by scores of 7-0 and 4-1. The two games signified a returned to early season form for the Quakers (17-19), who have struggled recently in Ivy play.

The first time that Penn softball coach Leslie King stepped onto a softball diamond, she broke her nose. A freshman in high school at the time, King fell victim to an untimely groundball that flew up into her face rather then nestling into her mitt. “I had never played before,” she explained.

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, as the old saying goes, but Penn softball are surely wishing it counted in their sport after this weekend. 

After a weekend road trip that saw Penn softball incur four straight losses, two of which went to extra innings, the Quakers were itching to head back to Philadelphia.

Penn softball may be down, but they are certainly not out. Last weekend, the Quakers (13-16, 2-6 Ivy) played through a string of disappointing road losses to Dartmouth and Harvard.

We're heading down the home stretch of the spring season as most of Penn's teams are halfway through their Ivy League campaigns.

An extra-inning defeat followed by a run-rule loss. Friday and Saturday took on unfortunately similar appearances for Penn softball this weekend.