When the softball team traveled to College Park, Md., last weekend to play both Maryland and Mary-land-Baltimore County, it didn't expect to have much of a home-field advantage.
But after coin tosses determined that Princeton would play as the home team in both games, the Tigers capitalized on the technical home-field advantage by using their final at-bats to defeat both Maryland squads.
The Terrapins (9-4 overall) and Princeton (2-0) battled for eight innings, before back-to-back run-scoring doubles by sophomore second baseman Kamilah Briscoe and senior center fielder Bevin Keenen gave the Tigers an encouraging 3-2 come-from-behind win.
Princeton was forced into a must-score situation after Maryland scored a two-out run in the top of the eighth. But instead of having Briscoe bunt sophomore right fielder Jen McCoy to third base at the start of the Tigers half of the inning, head coach Cindy Cohen gave her No. 3 hitter the green light.
Good choice
The decision paid off as Briscoe and Keenen followed with the game-winning hits.
Junior pitcher Lynn Miller (1-0) picked up where she left off last season, pitching a complete game and allowing just one earned run. Her outing offset a strong performance by the Terps' Kelly Shipman (4-3), who struck out eight Tigers.
In the opening game of the day, Princeton defeated a feisty UMBC (5-6) team, 3-2, when junior catcher Katie Bay drew a pinch-hit, two-out, bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh inning to force in an unearned run. Sophomore pitcher Sarah Peterman tossed three shutout innings in relief to pick up her first career win.
After finishing last season with a mediocre 6-6 record in one-run games, Princeton's two one-run victories last weekend should help bolster the team's confidence in game-winning situations.
Some senior players, perhaps wary of starting their final season on the wrong foot, had to fight off an unusual amount of butterflies.
"The first game, I was more nervous than any game in my life," said Keenen. "I don't know why."
The rest of the team exhibited some of the same tentativeness later in the day. In the fourth inning of the Maryland game, miscommunication over a towering pop up off the bat of the Terps' Sarah Putnam allowed a run to score with two outs. Luckily for the Tigers, they managed to escape the inning allowing just the one run.
Team effort
Overall, though, the team played solidly in its first step toward reclaiming the Ivy League crown. Tiger pitchers held their opponents to just four runs in 15 innings of work while the offense produced several noteworthy performers.
Junior first baseman Wendy Herm went 3 for 5 with an RBI in the opener, while freshman Lauren Poniatowski kicked off her Princeton career with two base hits, including a two-out RBI single in her first collegiate at-bat. Against Maryland, both Briscoe and Keenen paced the Tigers with two hits apiece.
Since Sunday's game against Drexel as well as the tournament championship game, was washed away by torrential rainstorms, the Tigers can rest on their laurels briefly before embarking upon their annual spring trip through South Carolina.
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