After losing a hard-fought double dip at Delaware over the weekend, the Penn women's softball team will be returning to the friendly confines of Warren Field today against inner-city rival, La Salle.
So far this season the Quakers are 4-2 at home and a perfect 2-0 since returning to West Philly from the team's trip to Orlando.
After struggling mightily while down in Florida, the Quakers have come back to life since returning north.
A doubleheader sweep of visiting Lafayette last week and a pair of close loses Sunday have confidence levels high.
"We are going into tomorrow's game with a new found confidence and the knowledge that we have something of a clean slate to work with," Penn sophomore slugger Erin O'Brien said.
One of the main reasons for the early season resurgence has been the team's defense. After getting off to a rocky start -- including one game in which Penn surrendered seven unearned runs -- the play behind the pitchers mound has steadily gotten better.
"We haven't done anything different at practice," O'Brien said. "We are just working hard on the our fielding and taking a lot of ground balls."
Another reason for the sudden turn around has been the play of freshman Zahya Hantz. She is hitting over .500 (5 for 9) and has almost doubled her season's hit total since returning from the south.
"All I can say is that [hitting coach] Lacey Shantz has worked with everyone on their hitting, and that has helped a lot," Hantz said. "She has been able to point out little errors in everyone's swing and is always giving us things we can work on in order to improve."
LaSalle, on the other hand, comes into tomorrow's meeting on a skid in the opposite direction.
After starting the season 4-4, the Explorers have dropped to 8-13 and have lost seven of their last nine contests.
Over the past five games, the LaSalle hitters have managed only a dismal five runs, which bodes well for the Quakers pitching staff.
Led by sophomore Nicole Borgstadt, the pitchers have been the most consistent and dominant dimension of the team.
With two of its members, Borgstadt and Rebecca Ranta, sporting low ERAs of 2.41 and 2.23, respectively, head coach Carol Kashow will have to look towards these two to lead the team.
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