As House Parties weekend begins, many visitors will arrive on campus to celebrate with their Princeton dates. These guests will laugh and celebrate and go home with sweet memories. Softball, on the other hand, will be trying to send its guests home crying, as it hosts the Princeton Invitational this Saturday and Sunday.
The Tigers (20-16-1 overall, 10-3 Ivy League) will be taking a break from Ivy play in their last home games of the season. Princeton will play one game against Rider on Saturday, followed by games against Rider and St. Joseph's the following day.
Although the tournament will not have any competition from traditionally daunting opponents, the team acknowledges a rivalry that stems from geographic proximity.
"Because [these schools] are so close to our area, we always try to play our hardest," senior utility Erin Valocsik said.
St. Joe's (21-12, 8-4) has proven itself as fair competition, going 1-1 against Princeton in a doubleheader last year when it defeated the Tigers in the first game, 1-0, before Princeton came back to nail down game two, 3-2.
Although the Hawks play in the Atlantic 10 Conference, the team has met with two of the Tigers' former opponents. Against Villanova, a team that Princeton struggled against with a 1-0 loss followed by a 3-3 tie, St. Joseph managed to win its first game, 5-2, before dropping its second, 14-6. And whereas the Tigers fell to Rutgers (25-20, 7-9 Big East) by the scores of 5-4 and 3-2, the Hawks came up with a 5-4 win followed by a 13-4 loss.
While Saint Joseph has somewhat of a lead in its overall record to Princeton, the Hawks have had a streaky season of wins and losses while the Tigers have gone through longer stretches of win after win.
Princeton's second opponent, Rider (20-18, 11-5 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference), has not done much historical damage to the Tigers. Princeton swept the Broncs, 9-1 and 5-2, in last year's match-up.
A head-to-head look at the teams' performances thus far in the season also works in Princeton's favor. Although the Broncs did take a game from Rutgers by the score of 5-2, they suffered a decisive loss against Cornell, 11-2. The Tigers, on the other hand, dominated the Big Red, winning 8-7 and 8-3. And while Rider could not contain Lehigh, falling by the scores of 8-0 and 10-2, Princeton beat Lehigh, 8-0, before giving up the second game, 5-4.
Although the past is on their side, the Tigers are careful never to make any assumptions that could jeopardize optimal play.
"Our coach only tells us about the other teams the day of the game. We go into it like we would any other game," Valocsik said.
Princeton, however, hopes to do things somewhat differently from every other game. Based on recent experience, the team sees a need for improvement in both defensive and offensive aspects of play.
"We need to play solid defense and come through in pressured situations at the plate," freshman pitcher Erin Snyder said.
Snyder is referring particularly to last weekend's game against Harvard, in which the Tigers suffered crucial losses, falling 3-2 and 6-5 to the Crimson. After gaining the lead in both games, Princeton could not stay in control as Harvard pulled out its weapons in the latter innings of each game.
As a result of the losses, the Tigers were left without the Ivy title, instead tying with Cornell. The standstill over an Ivy winner will force Princeton to take a trip to Providence, R.I., to play Brown Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
Princeton is forced to make the trip after its April 12 game against the Bears was called in the top of the ninth inning with the Tigers leading, 8-5, with two outs and a runner on first base.
If Princeton earns the win against the Bears, it will win sole possession of the Ivy League title. If the Tigers lose, they will the share the title with Cornell and will be forced to play the Big Red in a best-of-three series to determine the NCAA automatic bid.
With the Ivies behind them, the Tigers are already looking forward to the NCAA Regionals. Whatever the weekend holds in store, Princeton hopes to move toward its highest level of playing ability to ensure a grand finale.
"We're hoping to go into the NCAA, so we're hoping to use this as practice for postseason play," Valocsik said.
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