In Division-I softball, a coach usually doesn't need to worry about her outfielders catching fly balls. This is not the case, though, for coach Leslie King and the Penn softball team, as they prepare for their season-opening doubleheader on Sunday against Lafayette.
For the Quakers, this weekend's play will be their first outdoors all season. Practicing in an indoor facility has meant no fly-ball practice for Penn's outfielders; the ceiling simply gets in the way. The infielders, meanwhile, have yet to practice on dirt.
According to King, though, the Leopards most likely face the same challenges.
Both schools are coming off their highest win totals in program history; the Quakers finished 23-19 last season, while the Leopards were 21-25.
The teams split a doubleheader last season; Lafayette took the first game, 6-5, and Penn the next, 5-0.
Sunday's games will feature many other firsts for Penn. More than half of the Quakers will be making their collegiate debuts. Their biggest obstacle may be not Lafayette, but their own nerves.
"I know [the freshmen] are so excited, and we're excited to get out there and play with them," senior captain and 2007 Ivy League Player of the Year Annie Kinsey said. "So I think it will be a matter of calming down that excitement a little so that they can focus."
The freshmen know that they have no choice but to produce; on a thin squad of 14, there are no backups if they don't. There isn't much room for slow starts or rookie mistakes.
"In order to win we just need to relax, just play our game," freshman Kelsey Wolfe said. "We have the talent, we just need to realize that we do and play together."
That is the message King and her staff will try to relay to all of their first-timers before Sunday's play.
"They're bound to be nervous; they're bound to have a lot of adrenaline," King said. "I just need to tell them that that's totally normal, reassure them that they're ready and that they're good."
Lafayette's main weapon is sophomore tri-captain Christina Giambrone, the Patriot League Rookie of the Year in 2007. The shortstop finished last season with a team-best .344 average and 30 RBI.
The Leopards' pitching staff will be bolstered by the addition of two freshmen. They will join holdovers Kasey Karr and Aimee Dassner - who combined for 4.33 earned run average and 81 strikeouts in 178 innings - in a four person rotation, which the Quakers also feature.
Penn does not know which pitcher they'll face on Sunday. But no matter who it is, the freshmen will first need to get over the first-inning jitters.
"I know I'll be nervous before my [first] at-bat," Wolfe said. "As soon as I step in the box, though, I'll be able to clear out my head and just hit."
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