Mother Nature and Villanova combined to give Penn softball an awfully rude welcome home on Wednesday. The Wildcats dominated the Quakers, opening up a huge lead and withstanding a late rally en route to an 8-4 victory.

The date was April 13, 2014. Those of you with keen memories will remember this day as the Sunday of last year’s Fling weekend.

After a weekend road trip, Penn softball is looking forward to staying close to home. In the midst of the Ivy League stretch, Penn will face local rival Villanova at Penn Park on Wednesday.

It wasn’t quite the weekend Penn softball expected. After taking three of four games from Harvard and powerhouse Dartmouth last weekend, the Red and Blue seemed primed for a strong outing this weekend.

Peaks and valleys? Try Mount Everest and the Grand Canyon. Penn softball split a doubleheader with lowly nonconference foe Lafayette on Wednesday evening.

Coming into 2015, Penn softball pitcher and first baseman Alexis Sargent had already recorded the eighth-most home runs in program history, notched the school's fifth-lowest career earned run average, been named second-team All-Ivy and led the Quakers to the Ivy League Championship series. All in her rookie season. Sargent’s tremendous debut in 2014 wasn’t totally unexpected, as the Virginia native joined the Red and Blue after being named to the All-State team three times in high school, among numerous other accolades.

Not a bad way to start things off. Penn softball took three of four Ivy League games over the weekend, splitting with Dartmouth  on Friday  and sweeping Harvard  on Sunday.

When she strides across home plate to take her lefty stance inside the batter’s box, you might not expect anything out of the ordinary from Sydney Turchin.

What was a freshman-heavy roster last year has now blossomed into a more mature, more aggressive squad. Penn looks poised to burst through the barrier from a good team to a truly dominant team.

Come May 3, Penn softball is hoping for a little deja vu

Non-conference games have just not been kind to Penn softball this season. In what was the team’s final game before the all important Ivy League Championship Series, Penn fell to Big Five rival Villanova.

The Quakers silenced the Columbia Lions with three resounding victories to clinch the South Division title and an Ivy League Championship berth.

After stumbling in their midweek matchup with Monmouth, the Quakers (15-18, 10-5 Ivy) return to Ivy League play for their final conference action of the regular season when they take on Columbia in a home-and-home four-game series this weekend

Just a bump in the road.The Quakers looked to keep their recent run of success going as they tried to build on the three wins that they picked up in their last four games against their rival Princeton Tigers.

This weekend, the Quakers have a four game series against division-rival Columbia, but first, they need to take on Monmouth.

After winning three of its four contests against the Tigers, the Quakers are now sitting pretty, with a 2.5-game lead over trailing Columbia.

A historic rivalry. An Ivy South division title. A conference championship appearance. These are the stakes for Penn softball as they take on the Princeton Tigers in its second division series of the season.