It was a final push last Saturday as Princeton softball, already out of the race for the Ivy League title, tried to bolster its conference record in its last two games of conference competition against Columbia.
Having lost two devastating games just a week before against Cornell, the Tigers' prospects at winning a third straight Ivy League title were nonexistent as they headed into their last home game of the season. Nonetheless, league rankings were still at stake as Princeton prepared to battle the Lions, a team tied with them in the standings.
"We still wanted to be competitive and still felt we had something to prove," junior pitcher and outfielder Melissa Finley said. "Even though we lost to Cornell, we weren't about to give up and wanted to finish as well as we could, even if we couldn't clinch the league."
The first game, a continuation of a game canceled the week before due to rain, the Tigers picked up where they had left off, starting the game in the fifth inning with a 2-1 deficit. After giving up a two-run homer to the Lions early in the fifth, the Tigers were unable to generate any offense at all, with their only hit of the whole game coming from Finley during the sixth. Princeton would give up another run before the game ended in a 5-1 loss.
The Tigers, however, showed their resilience and were able to pick up the pieces to find a win in their second game of the match-up.
"It's important to have a quick turnover time," Finley said. "We've shown that we're able to forget the mistakes and focus on the positive."
In the bottom of the seventh, Princeton trailed Columbia 8-3 before a five-run rally that would tie the score. The Tigers loaded the bases early in the inning, and, in a combination of a single from senior first base Kristin Del Calvo as well as doubles from senior outfielder Wendy Bingham and Finley, Princeton took the five runs it needed to stay alive in its final Ivy game.
Finley's seventh homer of the year took her and sophomore Erin Snyder home in the bottom of the ninth and sealed the Tigers' 10-8 victory over the Lions.
"We wanted to stay focused and competitive," Finley said. "For the seniors especially we wanted to have a good last few games and have them leave on a strong note."
With this split, Princeton tied Yale and Columbia for fourth in the league, trailing Cornell, Brown, and Harvard. The end of the Ivy League was not the end of their season, however, as the Tigers went on to play their last two games against Rider this past Tuesday.
Princeton finished their season with another two-game split, winning their first match in an intense 10-inning, 7-4 shootout. Finley led the offensive effort again, scoring two runs and hitting her eighth homer of the season.
The Tigers ended the season with a 6-3 loss after having their game shortened due to darkness. Princeton took the lead early on, scoring three runs by the top of the third, but Rider answered in the bottom of that same inning with four runs that would give them the lead and ultimately the win.
With this loss, the Tigers finished the season with a record of 24-23 and were 7-7 in the Ivy League. Although Princeton had a winning season, there was a sense of disappointment as the Tigers wrapped up their spring competition.
"The season was unsatisfactory in many respects because I don't think we accomplished what we wanted — to win the Ivy League title," Finley said. "As a team we expected much more from ourselves."
Princeton will now look to the experience it has gained and the talent of its younger team members. With Bingham and Del Calvo, graduating, the Tigers will depend more than ever on the strength of its strong junior class as well as the talent of the seven current freshmen as they look to the future and next year's Ivy League title.
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