Tigers host Penn, visit Rutgers this weekend

Riding this week's success against Fairfield in its home opener, the softball team ends its home stand with a doubleheader against Penn on Saturday. The Tigers (17-7 overall) will then travel to Philadelphia to take on Temple in a doubleheader on Sunday. As Princeton begins what it hopes will be a successful Ivy League season, the Tigers understand the importance of starting strong against Penn.

"What happened last year is we lost to teams that we took for granted. We are going to take any team seriously," senior centerfielder Melissa Finley said. "We're confident going into this weekend."

The Quakers (8-10) are coming off a strong performance last weekend with a sweep over Rider. Last year, Princeton swept Penn in a doubleheader in Philadelphia with two shutout performances by Finley and junior pitcher Erin Snyder. Snyder has continued her impressive play this year and recorded a perfect game this past Tuesday against Fairfield, the second perfect game of her career.

"She was just on," junior catcher Amanda Erickson said about Snyder's performance. "It was a lot of fun to call that game because her ball was moving very well. I think they only hit five balls."

Penn is a relatively young team, with 17 underclassmen, and its head coach, Leslie King Moore, is in her second year. Last week, two Quakers had league honors in Penn's sweep of Rider. Designated hitter Stephanie Reichert was named Player of the Week after she batted six-for-eight in the weekend's two games with a grand slam, five runs batted in and two runs scored. Pitcher Ann Ferracane, honored as Rookie of the Week, threw seven innings of three-hit ball in her second complete game of the season and picked up the save in the second game.

Temple is coming off a rough weekend doubleheader against St. Bonaventure to open up its Atlantic 10 season. Last year, the Tigers' games against the Owls were cancelled. This year, Temple hopes to defend its A-10 championship from last year — the first conference championship it has won since its softball program began in 1975.

Every game the same

Princeton plans on approaching every game in its schedule this year with the same strategy — playing with competitive fire and focus in every matchup. The Tigers hope their new perspective on the season will lead them to better success than last year's Ivy League season.

"We focused a lot more this year on teamwork, on being one cohesive unit and having a lot more fun as a team," Finley said. "We're trying to bring the team together and really enjoy each other, but also knowing when to put our game faces on."

Princeton's offense has been very strong — after this week's games, the Tigers now have eight players with home runs.

"What's great about the lineup now is everyone is hitting well throughout the lineup," Erickson said.

Having depth on a roster as small as Princeton's is a unique strength for the Tigers this year. Power even at the bottom of a batting order makes it even more difficult for opposing pitchers.

"Every day someone different has been stepping up, which is something that didn't happen in past years," Finley said.

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Finley continues to lead the team offensively with a .397 batting average, four home runs, 27 hits and a .721 slugging percentage.

"We just have to keep up what we're doing well; we're really confident in our hitting now," Erickson said. "We have to keep looking sharp defensively because sometimes someone can make an error."

The Tigers have committed slightly more errors than their opponents, but in no way has this significantly hampered their overall success.

Princeton's approach so far has led it into a more promising position than it was in going into the conference season last year. At this time last season, the Tigers were 11-10 heading into the Penn doubleheader. If key players continue to step up in each game in varying ways, the lineup will become that much more effective down the line.