Regionals the next challenge

The Ivy League champion softball team will face off against the host University of Massachusetts Minutewomen tonight at 5 p.m in the NCAA regionals. The Tigers (25-22 overall, 20-2 Ivy League), are making their eighth NCAA regional appearance, coming off the 17th Ivy League title in team history.

The Tigers are the third seed in the Amherst Region of the bracket, which includes nationally ranked No. 12 Stanford (46-12), Lehigh (38-15-1) and the Minutewomen (36-11). The Amherst Region is a double-elimination-style regional qualifier for the super regionals. The winners of today’s first-round games will play tomorrow at noon, while the losers will face off at 2:30 p.m. At that point, the two 1-1 teams will play once more for the right to face the 2-0 team. On Sunday, the winner of the 1-1 teams will need to beat the 2-0 team twice to advance to the super regionals.

Eight teams advance to the super-regional round on May 23, where best-of-three series are played to determine which teams advance to the 2008 Women’s College World Series.

Historically, Princeton has had an edge against UMass, having compiled a 10-7 all-time record against the Minutewomen. The two teams, however, haven’t faced off since 2000. The Tigers have also dominated Lehigh with a 28-7 head-to-head advantage. Recent history has evinced the opposite trend, however, as the Mountain Hawks dealt the Tigers a 3-1 defeat on April 22. Princeton is 1-2 versus Stanford.

The Tigers are coming off perhaps the best Ivy League season in school history, dropping just two regular-season games and sweeping Harvard in the championship series.

Both the Tigers and the Minutewomen have four National Fast-Pitch College Association all-region players. Princeton’s potent three-four-five combination of junior shortstop and co-captain Kathryn Welch, sophomore rightfielder Kelsey Quist and sophomore pitcher Jamie Lettire picked up first-team honors, while senior starting pitcher Kristen Schaus received second-team accolades.

All four players also received Ivy League recognition, with each picking up a first-team plaudit. Freshman third baseman Megan Weidrick made the second team, while freshman starting pitcher Michelle Tolfa, freshman designated player Kristin Arguedas, senior catcher and co-captain Beth Dalmut, and sophomore second baseman Collette Abbott all were acknowledged with honorable mentions.