Softball continues hunt for Ivy crown against Brown, Yale

When Maureen Davies '97 stepped off the field in her final softball game in the late spring of 1997, she knew she had unfinished business. Though her Tigers team had just defeated Rutgers, they fell just short of winning another Ivy League title, fall-ing to Brown. As the team's number one pitcher, Davies earned regional All-American honors as a junior and was a three-time All Ivy League selection.

But the records meant little at that point; after three straight Ivy League Championships, beginning with her first in 1994, her freshman year, Davies never got to win that fourth league championship as a player. But after a four-year hiatus, Davis is back, this time as head coach, to once again try to lead the Tigers to glory, that elusive Ivy League title.

The team began play in early March at the Terrapin Invitational in College Park, Md. After early wins against Fairfield and LaSalle, the team was prepped to go against tournament host Maryland but was unable to do so because of inclement weather. Maryland was named winner of the tournament, while Prince'ton finished second.

In its first Ivy League contest, the team defeated Harvard 2-1 on a game-winning single into left field by senior catcher Devon Keefe, while dropping the second game 6-5 after losing an early 5-3 lead. Last weekend the team dropped both games of a doubleheader to a tough Dartmouth team, the first game 8-5 and the second 8-0.

The team goes into this weekend's doubleheaders against Yale and Brown with a 1-3 Ivy League record (a 10-9 overall record), but are clearly not out of contention for another Ivy League championship.

"Ideally we would like to win the Ivy League, which would put us into the postseason," Davies said. "All I want is for them just to come out and play the best softball they can. If they do that we can go far."

Yale carries a 2-2 record into today's games in New Haven. The Elis' .500 record is somewhat deceiving, however. Their two wins were over Columbia, which is now 1-5 in league play. Against a much stronger Cornell team Yale was outclassed, losing 10-1 and 8-0.

Brown has fallen a great distance since knocking Davies' 1997 team from the top spot. The Bears are 3-25 overall this year. Though their league record stands at 1-3, Brown seems to have come alive of late. The Bears scored a total of 22 runs in two close losses to league power Cornell and then split a pair of contests with Columbia, shutting the Lions out in the second game in the second of last week's doubleheaders.

Given Princeton's talented individual play, the Tigers should be able to overcome the challenges posed by the Lions and Elis in this important road weekend.

"We are a great offensive and defensive team and we are blessed with great pitching," Keefe said. "Our team is full of great athletes and I think that I could write strengths for each of them because they all play an important role on the team.

"I believe that as long as we play like we are capable of playing then we can beat anyone."