Softball battles Lehigh in Allentown

Princeton softball, currently ranked first in the Ivy League, will test themselves against the mettle of yet another non-conference team before jumping back into crucial league play this weekend. The team will challenge Lehigh, which leads the neighboring Patriot League, at a neutral site in Allentown, Pa. this afternoon.

Lehigh, boasting an impressive record of 25-9-2 on the season, has been the unquestioned standout in its own conference, having won the conference title for 10 of the last 11 years, including the last five in a row.

"Lehigh is good, but they're also just a very typical east coast team," senior Wendy Bingham said. "If we play our game, I think we should win, but they're the type of team that could definitely creep up on us."

The Tigers, currently riding the momentum of a five-game winning streak, the longest one they've had since returning from their Spring Break tournament in California, have demonstrated their talent against several topnotch teams.

Especially confident after an encouraging weekend sweep of Penn in its opening games of Ivy League competition, Princeton's early season inconsistency seems all but a distant memory. The Tigers have pitched three shutouts in their past five games while demonstrating sound defensive skills and improvement in their offensive statistics.

"We're getting better as a team," Bingham said. "Everything's starting to come together. In the beginning, it's hard to put your pitching and hitting together. The more we play, the better things are working out."

Although Lehigh can claim a better record than Princeton (13-10), the Tigers have the edge going into the game. The Mountain Hawks went 0-1-1 last week against the Quakers, who Princeton just swept, 1-0 and 6-0.

Having split their two games last year, today's games should prove to be an interesting matchup as each of these teams, a giant in its own league, vies for bragging rights on the regional scene.

In addition to its record, Lehigh has an impressive group of personnel. Mountain Hawk players have been named the Patriot League Pitcher and Player of the Week for the past four weeks. The most recent winners are senior Shana Treon and freshman Heather Hamasaki, who received the awards for their efforts in Lehigh's recent four-game sweep of nearby Lafayette.

But the Tigers are not without their own stars. Junior pitcher Melissa Finley and sophomore pitcher Erin Snyder were just named Ivy League Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for the second time in three weeks.

Finley, last season's Ivy League Player of the Year and the team's offensive workhorse, leads Princeton with 22 hits and 12 runs in addition to her play on the mound. Snyder, the team's ace, has pitched three shutouts and has 78 strikeouts this season.

"Obviously Melissa and Erin are playing a huge role," Bingham said. "They're both contributing offensively as well as defensively, and the way they have been pitching lately is really setting the tone of our games."

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While this week's contests will be intense, demanding a strong showing by these Tiger standouts, Princeton will play with the upcoming league games against Dartmouth and Harvard looming in their minds as they head into their midweek match-ups. More than anything, the Tigers will look to these games as a way to reinforce their confidence and continue their current trend of improvement, one that will definitely help them in their weekend play and potentially lead them to their final season objective, a third straight Ivy League title.