PHILADELPHIA- The University of Pennsylvania's softball team is ready to play at Penn Park for the first time this season. The Quakers will welcome Coppin State on Friday and Sunday for a three-game series.

SCHEDULE CHANGE: Please note, Friday's doubleheader was originally set for Saturday but moved up a day due to the forecast of inclement weather.

So far, in 2024, the Red and Blue have competed in Virginia and Texas and are ready to play in Philadelphia.

Penn (2-9, 0-0 Ivy League) vs Coppin State (4-4, 0-0 MEAC)

Friday, March 8
Penn Park | Philadelphia, Pa.
vs Coppin State – 3:00 & 5:30 p.m.
Game 1: Watch | Live Stats
Game 2: Watch | Live Stats

Sunday, March 10
Penn Park | Philadelphia, Pa.
vs Coppin State – 12:30 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats

Previewing Penn
 Penn is coming off a 1-5 trip to Texas, where the Quakers played a three-game series against Lamar, taking the final game, 7-5. Penn also competed in a doubleheader against Houston Christian and lost 11-7 and 8-3, and most recently played Prairie View A&M on Wednesday afternoon losing in the bottom of the seventh, 7-6.

Last season, the Quakers went 4-7 at home, and did not get their first win at home until April 2nd; a 6-3 win over Princeton. A win on Friday would set the tone in the new era of Penn softball, with first year Head Coach Christie Novatin at the helm.

At the Plate
Senior, and Philadelphia native, Katie Reagan leads the team in batting average, hitting .469. Reagan also leads the team with 15 hits and nine RBIs, she is tied for first with Delaney Smith, who each have three doubles. Reagan is slugging .625 and has an OPS of 1.139. Sammy Fenton and Smith are the other Quakers to have double-digit hits so far, Fenton with 11 and Smith with 10. Freshmen Chloe Lesko and Megan Huang are second and third on the team in RBIs, with seven and six respectively. Lesko also has the lone homerun for the Quakers, a two-run shot that came against Prairie View A&M for her first career homer.

As a team, Penn is batting .269, is slugging .345 and has an on-base percentage of .355. The Quakers have totaled 85 hits, have scored 50 runs, with 17 extra-base hits. The team has combined for 42 RBIs and is 19-21 in stolen base attempts.

In the Circle
Payton Bean leads the Red and Blue with a 4.13 ERA and 1.52 WHIP. Bean has pitched 20.1 innings in four starts and five total appearances. The junior leads the team with 14 strikeouts and has given up 12 earned runs. Junior Rachel Riley and Freshman Ella Utschig have been the other go-to arms in the rotation. Riley has made five starts in six total appearances, has a 5.80 ERA and has pitched 25.1 innings. Although Utschig's ERA is 8.17, she leads the team with a 2-1 record. Utschig has tossed 18 innings and has struck out eight batters. As a pitching staff, the Quakers have an ERA of 5.84, with a 1.91 WHIP.

Freshmen Impact
Freshmen Maia Hartley, Blake Landow, Lesko, Huang and Utschig have all seen significant playing time as rookies. Huang has batted in the leadoff spot on multiple occasions for Penn, and Lesko is the only Quaker to go yard thus far. Both Lesko and Huang have played in all 11 games, Huang making nine starts and Lesko starting in eight. Hartley has played in 10 games, making three starts, with Landow making seven appearances. Utschig has made an appearance in seven out of 11 games for Penn. Lesko boasts a .286 batting average with eight hits and three stolen bases. Huang is hitting .273, with nine hits, has drawn a team-leading six walks and is 3-3 on stolen base attempts.

Previewing the Eagles
Coppin State fell to George Washington, 8-5, on Wednesday afternoon, after not competing since February 24. Aniyah Haley, Brooklyn Tapusoa and Julianna Mejia each collected a pair of hits, with Haley and Mejia driving in four of the five runs for the Eagles. Haley hit her first career homer in the top of the fifth inning. Coppin State was down early 2-0, battled to tie the game, fell back down, 3-2, tied the game once again, but could not recover from a three-run inning from George Washington in the bottom of the fifth. Last week, Emily Quintero was named the MEAC Softball Rookie of the Week. Quintero went 3-for-5 with a run, three RBI and a double in a win at North Carolina A&T, helping her own cause in the circle where she tossed 7.2 innings. Quintero tossed another inning against the Aggies the day prior.

Seryna Esparza and Tapusoa lead the team with nine hits each, as Avianna Peterson and Manaia Fonoti have eight. Esparza, Tapusoa and Peterson are all batting over .300 for the Eagles. Haley leads the team with 12 RBIs, as her and Tapusoa are the lone members of the Eagles to homer thus far. As a team, Coppin State is batting .272, with 66 hits and 42 runs scored. The Eagles are slugging .391 have an on-base percentage of .348, have 37 RBIs and are 7-10 on stolen bases.

In the circle, Vanessa Carrizosa has made five starts in seven appearances, has a 3.30 ERA and a 2-4 record this season. The senior has thrown 40.1 innings, has struck out 16 and has given up 19 earned runs. The other member of the Coppin State staff is Quintero, who has 1 5.73 ERA in five appearances and three starts. The rookie has pitched 18 innings, is 2-0 and has given up 15 earned runs.