Softball sweeps to ivy lead

A commonly accepted adage in baseball is that good pitching beats good hitting. Princeton's softball team could not agree more.

The Tigers won four big games this weekend to move to 6-0 in the Ivy League and in sole possession of first place. Princeton (17-13 overall) took two games from Columbia (13-11, 0-2) in New York Saturday, winning both games by a score of 2-0. The Tigers then came home and swept Cornell (16-12, 2-2), the defending Ivy champs, in a doubleheader on Sunday, 2-0 and 9-1.

Princeton can attribute its success to the incredible pitching it has received from everyone in its rotation. While the Tigers' offense still sputtered for much of the weekend, with the way the pitching staff has been playing, two runs seems like enough.

"This is an outstanding group that can win with few runs, but I hope the offense won't make them," coach Maureen Davies '97 said with a smile.

Senior Brie Galicinao, sophomore Wendy Bingham, and freshman Melissa Finley all pitched fantastically for the Tigers. Galicinao pitched two more complete game shutouts to give her five straight and six on the year. Bingham also threw a shutout on Saturday.

Princeton pitchers simply would not give an inch against Columbia. Galicinao struck out 12 hitters and allowed only one hit in the first game. Both were season bests for the All-Ivy pitcher. She lowered her ERA to 1.93 and improved to 7-6 on the year.

Junior utility player Erin Velocsik and freshman third baseman Becky Nemec provided the only offense as they both hit the first home runs of their collegiate careers.

Velocsik provided the winning run when she went deep in the bottom of the fourth inning. With two out, and nobody on, she hit a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall to give Princeton the 1-0 lead. This would prove to be the winning run. Velocsik went 3-3 on the day, also adding two singles.

Nemec added the insurance run in the sixth when she sent a Katie Zunno offering over the wall in left-center.

Bingham, who improved to 5-3 on the year, provided the dominant pitching in the second game. She allowed only three hits in the complete game effort. She also struck out four batters, lowering her ERA to 2.02.

Freshman leftfielder Melissa Finley opened the scoring in the second inning when she crossed the plate on an RBI double by junior second baseman Mackenzie Forsythe.

With two outs, Finley doubled to left center off Lions starter Allison Buehler. Forsythe followed with another double to the gap.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The insurance run again came in the sixth inning. Senior shortstop Kim Veenstra doubled and came home two batters later on an RBI double by Finley.

The pitching against Cornell was even more impressive because the Big Red has perhaps the most explosive offense in the league. They scored 18 runs against Penn in only five innings on Saturday. Galicinao, however, was up for the challenge, and pitched her second consecutive one-hit shutout, as she kept the Big Red off balance for the entire game.

"I tried to think about every pitch and be at the top of my game," Galicinao said. "Now I'm just floating."

Finley provided the offense when she went deep in the second inning. Velocsik singled up the middle with one out, bringing up Finley. She smashed a ball deep over the fence in left-center to give the Tigers the early 2-0 lead. Galicinao did the rest, as she struck out five Cornell batters.

In game two of the doubleheader, Finley got the start on the mound and showed no signs of nervousness, pitching well for the first four innings.

After giving up a leadoff double in the fifth, Davies decided to bring in the veteran Galicinao to finish the game.

Sophomore infielder Kristin del Calvo provided the offensive fireworks with a grand slam in the fifth inning to break the game wide open. With freshman second baseman Kristin Lueke on first, Galicinao on second, and Bingham on third, del Calvo hit the first pitch from Nicole LePera over the wall in right center.

Velocsik continued her impressive hitting by going 3-3 in the game. She finished the weekend going 7-12 with two RBI and three runs scored. "I've been working a lot with the coaches," she said. "They saw something watching film."

Davies would love to see Velocsik continue to swing the bat like she has, but she may not need to with the way the Tigers have pitched.

Just ask Galicinao, if you can find her.

"Our feet aren't even on the ground."