Softball | Will bird hunting season start at Warren?

When softball meets Lehigh tomorrow in a doubleheader at Warren Field, the Mountain Hawks will be the third set of predatory birds that the Quakers have met in seven days.

Each time, Penn has come out looking more like the prey.

After two humbling losses in the Quakers' home opener March 18 against the Saint Joseph's Hawks, 4-1 and 10-0, the young Penn team dropped two razor thin losses to the Monmouth Hawks Saturday, both by the score of 1-0. Finding their pitching groove proved near impossible against the cross-town Hawks; conversely, Monmouth squashed the Quakers offensively, limiting them to a total of five hits and keeping them off of the scoreboard.

Coach Leslie King hopes all the gears will turn at once against Lehigh (11-13), a team that, despite being the defending Patriot League Champions, has had trouble of its own early in the season.

In their last 14 games, the Mountain Hawks have gone a surprising 4-10, winning just one of their last five.

But King doesn't pay attention to recent history.

"They're an excellent team," she said. "We're always very competitive with them, we always have competitive outings."

Lehigh has taken the last five meetings against Penn, including a particularly devastating sweep last year. With a pitching staff that has a 3.16 earned run average, the Hawks will certainly be looking to extend Penn's hitting drought. Lehigh's ace, senior Lisa Sweeney, is 6-7 on the season with a formidable 2.98 ERA. Teammate Tiffany Curtis is close behind with a 3.33 ERA following a great relief showing in a win against St. Joe's Sunday.

"Lisa [is] one of the best players in our region this year," King said. "We have the ultimate respect for her."

Both teams have young stars on offense. Lehigh's Julie Fernandez has had an excellent rookie outing, leading the Patriot League in hits (26), doubles (9) and runs batted in (15). Penn freshman Jamie Boccanfuso is batting an impressive .333 in 17 games.

In the circle, sophomore Tory Satagaj and senior Emily Denstedt have been on a roll, as both held Monmouth to one run - of course, in both cases, that one run was one too many.

"The pitchers, they understand," King said. "They've been part of the early season. It's a team thing. They understand that hitters go through slumps.

"We're not going to set any win records this year, but we haven't put all aspects together yet. We have just as good of a shot as anybody else."

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