Tigers face Big East foes

The softball team (14–6 overall) hopes to continue its early season success this weekend as it heads on a road trip against Boston College and Rutgers. With more preparation, the team hopes to continue to improve on an already promising run to the Ivy League slate later in the season.

After a slow start on its spring break trip to the West Coast, Princeton posted strong numbers and performances to finish the week. That trip culminated in a shutout by junior pitcher Erin Snyder over a powerful No. 3 Stanford team (19-3). Successes over the break showed the Tigers both where their strengths lie and where they still need to improve.

"I think we did really well; we beat some good teams, and we can use our preseason for preparation for the Ivies," junior shortstop Christina Cobb-Adams said. "One of our biggest things is defense. We have some people playing positions they are not used to."

Princeton faces Rutgers first this weekend in a doubleheader Thursday starting at 2 p.m. Last year, the Tigers split a doubleheader at home against Rutgers, losing the first game, 3-0, but rebounding to win 5-4 in the nightcap. So far this season, Rutgers is 0-16 after coming off a 25-29 overall record last season.

The Tigers then travel north to face Boston College on Saturday to play another doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m. Princeton also split a doubleheader against the Eagles last season, losing the first game, 1-0, only to come back in the next, 7-5, to end the weekend. Boston College is seventh so far in the Big East at 9-12 overall. One of the losses came to Stanford, by a score of 8-0.

Top honors

Two players from the Tigers earned Ivy honors for their performances on the road trip last week. Snyder earned her second Pitcher of the Week honor, while senior centerfielder Melissa Finley had a great offensive road trip and took home co-Player of the Week honors along with Columbia designated hitter Taylor Tierney.

Finley hit .381, tallied four runs batted in and scored four runs in a 5-3 week for the Tigers. Finley hit her team-leading fourth home run of the season during the first 1-0 victory of an eventual two-game sweep of Pacific. Against Saint Mary's, Finley went 2-3, walked once, scored three runs and recorded an RBI in the 6-1 win. In the 3-1 win over UC-Davis she scored two runs for the Tigers. Finley earned her 14th RBI of the season when she hit a sacrifice fly out to centerfield for the insurance run in the 2-0 win over No. 3 Stanford. Finley currently leads the team in batting average (.368), hits (21), doubles (6) and slugging percentage (.719).

Snyder led the Tigers to three wins from the mound this week, including the overpowering 2-0 shutout over Stanford. Against the Cardinal, Snyder allowed only two hits and two walks on her way to a five-strikeout performance. Snyder tallied 11 strikeouts in the 6-3 win over Colorado State and the 5-1 victory at Saint Mary's. She picked up another eight in the second 1-0 win over Pacific to earn the sweep.

Off the mound, Snyder went four-for-eight at bat against Saint Mary's, recorded two RBIs and scored a run. Snyder is 7-2 for the season, holds a .92 earned run average in 61 innings and is second on the team in batting average with a .317. With 85 strikeouts this season and 421 in her career, Snyder is four short of moving into the top three on the career strikeout list for Princeton.