The Tigers' softball team is having a magical season. Though a handful of games remain to be played, Princeton could clinch at least a share of the Ivy League championship — its first since 1996 — if it sweeps its weekend contests against Brown and Yale.
All facets of the game have been shining for Princeton. The team won its first two games in blow-out fashion — 12-2 against Drexel, 13-1 against Temple — then, after battling a losing streak in the season's first weeks came back to gain big wins against Rutgers, Penn, and Columbia. In these games, defense and pitching reigned. Of the five wins, four were shutouts.
In its first Ivy League weekend of the season, the Tigers showed off both their sides. The team swept the doubleheader against Columbia, winning both games, 2-0, off the dominant pitching of senior Brie Galicinao and sophomore Wendy Bingham. The next afternoon, with the bats swinging, Princeton defeated last season's Ivy League champ, Cornell, 9-1. The game was called in the sixth inning, terminated by the mercy rule.
"They're playing so well together as a team," head coach Maureen Davies '97 said. "Starters, veterans, freshman. There's not just one or two superstars. Some games one player steps up, then in the next game another. That's what I love about this team."
Though the team's success has been a collective effort, the whole is only as strong as the sum of its parts. Thus, here at the 'Prince' we have honored several of the players with unofficial awards for their contribution to the team's remarkable success this season.
Prince Midseason Awards
Freshman of the Season
Freshman pitcher Melissa Finley takes this one. The freshman not only leads all first-year players in the "power" offensive categories—home runs, RBIs, slugging, and total bases—but she has materialized as one of the team's most reliable hitters. Her five home runs rank third on the team and her 14 RBIs rank fourth, the biggest of which came off a game winning two-run homer at Cornell.
Finley has started all 38 games, playing either in the outfield or as pitcher. She has emerged as a viable pitcher for the team, starting the second game of doubleheaders or coming in on relief efforts. Most recently, she pitched a complete game victory against Dartmouth, holding the Big Green to one run in seven innings while striking out one.
"Melissa Finley has pitched the second game against our tougher Ivy League competition and has done an excellent job," Galicinao said. "At the plate, too, she's a monster."
Defensive Player of the Season
Another freshman gets this award. Freshman third-baseman Becky Nemec has been as solid as it gets from the corner of the infield this season.
Having to replace Lauren Poniatowski '01, known for stopping almost everything, is no easy task, though Nemec has started where Poniatowski left off.
"Defensively, Becky holds down her corner in any situation," freshman utility player Kristin Lueke said. "I've played with a lot of top quality third basemen, but Becky is by far one of my favorites. She has truly earned our confidence."
Offensive Player of the Season
Sophomore first baseman Kristin del Calvo is the clear-cut winner for offensive player of the season. Her leading the team in just about every offensive category – batting average (.372), slugging percentage (.664), RBIs (30), home runs (8), and total bases (75) – is merely indicative of the leading-role she has had from the plate in the team's 25 wins this season.
Last week the sophomore went on a hitting tear, hitting 13-for-26. In the eight-games pan she tallied eight RBI and five runs. Against Ivy opponents, Del Calvo hit .500 (7-for-14) with five RBI and three runs scored. She belted a homer against Harvard and Dartmouth as Princeton went 3-1 on the week to stay in first place.
"I would seriously hate to face her as a pitcher," Lueke said. "She has got real ultimate power."
Pitcher of the Season
This is another clear-cut choice. Senior pitcher Brie Galicinao is not only the team's best pitcher but the Ivy League's best, and one of the most dominating throwers in the game. Last season's winner of the Ivy League Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year awards, a combination of awards won by no other player in the same season in Ivy League softball history, Galicinao is on pace to win the same awards, again.
Her numbers from the first week of April represent the overall dominance she has displayed throughout the season. In that week, she threw three straight complete game shutouts including a pair of one-hitters over Columbia and Cornell and registered a save. In 16 innings of Ivy play, she totaled 19 strikeouts and allowed only two hits as Princeton improved to 6-0. She had pitched five consecutive shutouts in a row for Princeton until the streak was spoiled by Rider.
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