Softball Announces 2012 Schedule

Softball Schedule

PHILADELPHIA - Penn softball will make the move to Penn Park this season and the Quakers will definitely have a strong home presence in their state-of-the-art softball stadium. In addition to the spring schedule that includes 19 home games in 2012, the Quakers will be hosting three weekend tournaments this fall, plus the annual alumnae game.

The Quakers will get the fall schedule started on Sept. 24 with the annual alumnae game in what will be the first game at the brand new softball facility. The next day, the squad will host the Penn Invitational in its first action against of the season against outside competition. After the opening weekend, the Quakers will host the Rocci Pignoli Memorial City Six Invitational. Penn is scheduled to play both their games on Oct. 1 against Drexel and La Salle, with the championship game slated for that evening. In the third and final weekend of fall softball, Penn will host the Quaker Fall Classic on Oct. 8.

Spring softball will open with the annual trip to Florida, which has been expanded to include games in Orlando at the UCF Spring Fling Tournament. The UCF Spring Fling Tournament will begin on Friday, Mar. 2 and continue through Sunday. On Monday, Mar. 5, Penn will begin play in the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Fla. The squad will be in Florida until Friday, Mar. 9 before it returns from the eight-day trip.

After returning from the Sunshine State, Penn will take on Saint Joseph's on Mar. 14 in a mid-week doubleheader that will mark the first spring contest for the team at Penn Park. After starting out at home, the Quakers will be on the road for a pair of doubleheaders. The team will make the short trip to Temple on Mar. 17 before heading to Lehigh on Mar. 21 and returning back to Philadelphia to host another tournament.

The four-team Penn Spring Invitational, which will feature Army, Rider and Villanova, will be held on Saturday, Mar. 24 and Sunday, Mar. 25. After the invitational, the Quakers will host La Salle in a Mar. 28 doubleheader in what will be the final preparations for the Ivy League season.

Up first for the Quakers will be four doubleheaders against Ivy League North Division opponents. Penn will be at home against Brown on Friday, Mar. 30 when Ivy League play opens up around the league. The following day, Yale will come to Philadelphia to cap off the first weekend in the Ivy schedule. The second weekend of Ivy League games will see the Quakers travel north to take on Dartmouth (Apr. 6) and defending Ivy League champion Harvard (Apr. 7).

The teams in the Ivy League South Division will begin going head-to-head in the third weekend of Ivy play. Princeton will be the first South Division adversary that Penn will meet up against on Apr. 14-15 with the two squads playing a doubleheader on each day, four games in all. Before heading into the second weekend of South Division opponents, Penn will host Drexel in a 6 p.m. game at Penn Park that will allow both squads the opportunity to play under the lights of Penn Park.

A big weekend awaits in the next Ivy League series as the Cornell Big Red come to town from Apr. 21-22 to play four games. Last season, Penn and Cornell battled right down to the last day of the regular season before the Big Red advanced to the Ivy League Championship series.

After the big weekend on campus, Penn will host Delaware in another mid-week 6 p.m. matchup at Penn Park. The final weekend of regular season play in the Ivies will see Penn take on Columbia in home-and-home doubleheaders. Columbia will make the trip to Philadelphia on Friday, Apr. 27 and Penn will make the trek to New York City on Saturday, Apr. 28 to close out regular season play.

If the Quakers finish the regular season with the best Ivy League record of the four South Division teams, which includes Cornell, Columbia and Princeton, the Quakers will take on the North Division champion at the site of the school that had the best overall record in the Ivies. The Ivy League Championship is a best-of-three series that will take place on Saturday, May 5 and continue to Sunday if a third game is needed. The winner of the Ivy League will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Regional tournament which will begin on May 18.

Penn returns 12 letterwinners from a squad that won 18 games last season and finished in second place in the Ivy League South Division under Leslie King, who will be entering her ninth season as head coach.

Date	Opponent	Location	Time (EST)	Results	Media
Sat, Sep 24	Alumnae Game	Penn Park	TBA
Penn Invitational
Sun, Sep 25	TBA	Penn Park	TBA
Rocci Pignoli Memorial City Six Championship
Sat, Oct 01	Drexel	Penn Park	2 p.m.
Sat, Oct 01	Championship Game	Penn Park	7 p.m.
Sat, Oct 01	Temple	Penn Park	Noon
Quaker Fall Classic
Sat, Oct 08	TBA	Penn Park	TBA
UCF Spring Fling Tournament
Fri, Mar 02 -  Sun, Mar 04	TBA	at Orlando, Fla.	TBA
Rebel Spring Games
Mon, Mar 05 -  Fri, Mar 09	TBA	at Kissimmee, Fla.	TBA
Wed, Mar 14	Saint Joseph's (DH)	Penn Park	2:30 p.m.
Sat, Mar 17	Temple (DH)	at Philadelphia, Pa.	1 p.m.
Wed, Mar 21	Lehigh (DH)	at Bethlehem, Pa.	2:30 p.m.
Penn Spring Invitational
Sat, Mar 24 -  Sun, Mar 25	Army, Rider, Villanova	Penn Park	TBA
Wed, Mar 28	La Salle (DH)	Penn Park	4 p.m.
Fri, Mar 30	Brown (DH) *	Penn Park	2 p.m.
Sat, Mar 31	Yale (DH) *	Penn Park	12:30 p.m.
Fri, Apr 06	Dartmouth (DH) *	at Hanover, N.H.	2:30 p.m.
Sat, Apr 07	Harvard (DH) *	at Cambridge, Mass.	12:30 p.m.
Sat, Apr 14	Princeton (DH) *	at Princeton, N.J.	12:30 p.m.
Sun, Apr 15	Princeton (DH) *	at Princeton, N.J.	12:30 p.m.
Wed, Apr 18	Drexel	Penn Park	6 p.m.
Sat, Apr 21	Cornell (DH) *	Penn Park	4 p.m.
Sun, Apr 22	Cornell (DH) *	Penn Park	12:30 p.m.
Wed, Apr 25	Delaware	Penn Park	6 p.m.
Fri, Apr 27	Columbia (DH) *	Penn Park	2:30 p.m.
Sat, Apr 28	Columbia (DH) *	at New York, N.Y.	12:30 p.m.
Ivy League Championship Series
Sat, May 05 -  Sun, May 06	TBA *	at TBA	TBA
NCAA Regionals
Fri, May 18 -  Sun, May 20	TBA	at TBA	TBA