Softball swept at home by Delaware

Shortstop Jen Nichols easily had the hit of the day for the Quakers in Penn's softball doubleheader against Delaware yesterday.

Nichols, one of three captains, hit the ball clear out of Warren Field in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and two outs on the board.

Nichols remained humble about her feat and was glad to be able to help out her teammates.

"I feel good. We were already up one run but it gave the pitcher some room," she said.

However, her first career home run and the team's first of the season did not guarantee victory for the Quakers, as Delaware rallied in the sixth. The Blue Hens knocked in an incredible seven runs in just one inning.

In the end, Delaware edged out Penn by two runs, with a final score of 9-7.

But the Blue Hens were not finished yet.

In the second game of the double header, Delaware was dominant, winning 4-0.

The Blue Hens started the game with an early lead of two runs in the first and never looked back.

Although the game resulted in no runs for the Quakers, two highlights for the team were Freshman Christina "CK" Khosravi's two hits that seemed to reinvigorate the crowd.

"Coach told us that the pitcher was throwing to the outside so I set myself up to the outside and I just hit the ball as hard as I could," she said.

Khosravi explained that hitting is a skill that the team as a whole has been working on.

"We hit well," she said. "We've gotten far with hitting. We're a lot better than we were in the fall."

Unfortunately, hitting well was not enough to win the game for the Quakers, who fell to 4-8 on the season after the sweep.

Coach Leslie King Moore easily identified what went wrong for the Quakers.

"We have to pitch better," she said. "We also have to step up our base running."

Moore, despite the two losses, felt that the games were valuable for the team.

"It was a good measure for my team because we're pretty even as far as talent," she said. "It's nice to play them; it's a good indicator of where we stand."

Nichols emphasized the need to patch up holes in both the Quakers' offense and defense.

"We didn't get clutch hits when we needed to," she said. "We need to tighten defense."

The Quakers will attempt to use what they have learned at the Mizuno/Anderson Bat Bash at the Beach against Lafayette tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Georgetown, Del.

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