After the final softball game of their Penn careers, seniors Emily Denstedt and Anna Puglisi expressed mixed feelings.
According to Puglisi, the game was "fantastic, pretty much as good as it could've gone. It was a great comeback."
Denstedt was more disappointed with her own performance.
"It was probably not the way I would've liked it to go, but the team came back and a win is a win at the end of the day," she said.
Despite different takes on the game, the Quakers took three of four from Columbia this weekend. Saturday in New York, they won the first game, 4-3, and lost the second in extra innings, 6-5. Yesterday at Warren Field, Penn beat the Lions soundly in game one, 8-1, and came from behind to record an 8-6 victory in game two.
After pitching 7.2 innings in the heat Saturday in game two, Denstedt struggled yesterday.
"[Saturday] took its toll on her, so she wasn't as sharp [yesterday]," coach Leslie King said of Denstedt's four-inning performance in yesterday's nightcap.
Freshman Chelsea Ott relieved Denstedt, pitching three shutout innings to allow for the Penn comeback.
The Quakers (15-28-1, 10-10 Ivy) were down 6-2 going into the fifth inning against Columbia (16-33, 4-16) early in the nightcap. Then, the Penn bats exploded for six runs. The Quakers took the lead for good on a triple by sophomore Bridget McDugall that plated Taylor Tieman.
Even though they fell behind early, the team expected to pull out a win in the end.
"This is our 'MO,'" Denstedt said. "We're the comeback kids. We've been that way all season. . We like to give the audience a show apparently."
King attributed the win to key plays by Puglisi and junior Keiko Uraguchi. Uraguchi made a home run-saving catch in the fourth inning with a reach over the fence.
"[Puglisi] came out really clutch, which was huge," King said.
Penn also showed its ability to come from behind Saturday. The Quakers were down, 5-3, in the seventh inning of game two when freshman Jamie Boccanfuso singled in two runs to tie the game.
Boccanfuso drove in all five Quakers' runs in the nightcap - and seven of Penn's nine runs on the day.
That was all the comeback the Red and Blue had in them, though, as Columbia scored in the eighth to take the victory.
After a long - and at times disappointing - season, the Red and Blue were happy with their finish.
"I was very pleased. We won the first game quite handily," King said. "To be behind 6-1 in the second and then turn out such a strong comeback was very satisfying and really pulled the tail of our season. We've always fought and scratched; it's not a team that lays down, and we showed that today."
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