Four wins would give Tigers title

As the softball team's opponents this weekend focus on avoiding a last-place Ivy League finish, the league-leading Tigers, too, will have their eyes cast downward in the standings.

With second-place Harvard (13-15 overall, 6-2 Ivy League) breathing down its neck, Princeton (29-14, 8-2) visits Yale (13-23, 2-6) and Brown (10-14-1, 2-6) on this, its final Ivy League weekend, looking to distance itself from the Crimson. If the Tigers can churn out doubleheader sweeps over the Bulldogs on Saturday and the Bears on Sunday, they will secure at least a share of the Ivy League title.

Such a favorable outcome cannot be taken for granted, considering that 11 of the Tigers' 14 losses have come away from 1895 Field, and they have yet to put together an undefeated league weekend this season. Still, up against unimposing competition and with everything to play for, Princeton has every right to think big.

Meanwhile, for their big dreams to come true, the Tigers may have to think small this weekend. "Small ball" should be the name of the game against Yale and Brown, two teams that, like the Tigers, are paced by their talented rotations.

Led by junior pitcher Erin Snyder and freshman pitcher Kristen Schaus, the Princeton pitching staff leads the league by a wide margin with its combined 1.29 earned-run average. The Bulldogs and Bears, meanwhile, boast team ERAs of 2.33 and 2.40, respectively, good for thirdand fourth-best among the Ivies. Needless to say, the forecast for this weekend includes a scarcity of runs.

The ace of Yale's staff is the crafty southpaw Ashley Linnenbank, whose 4-9 record this season is by no means reflective of her overall performance. She has held opposing hitters to a batting average of just .212 over 13 starts and comes into the weekend with an ERA of just 1.71. Linnenbank is followed in the rotation by righty control-specialist Peggy Hunt, who has walked just 13 batters this season while piling up 85 strikeouts, the fifth-highest total in the league.

The Yale offense is led by an equally accomplished duo, but, unfortunately for the Bulldogs, two players will always have more difficulty carrying an offense than they will powering a pitching staff. So, despite Chelsea Kanyer's .330 batting average and Kristy Kwiatkowski's 23 runs scored, the Bulldogs have struggled to provide Linnenback and Hunt with the minimal run support they generally need to pick up wins.

When the Tigers travel to Providence, R.I. on Sunday, they will be welcomed by a team with a similar dilemma. The face of Brown softball is Uchenna Omokaro, the 2004 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year. Other than Snyder, she remains the league's most feared hurler, having posted a 1.43 ERA this season in 12 starts, all of which have been complete games.

Despite her dominance, Omokaro has compiled a record of just 6-6, largely because the Bears' impotent offense is capable of making any mediocre starter look as good as Omokaro herself. Aside from Courtney Jenkins' .549 slugging percentage and 13 runs batted in, Brown hitters have failed to get much of anything going offensively this season.

The same cannot be said of Princeton's hitters. With junior shortstop Cristina Cobb-Adams setting the table for star senior centerfielder Melissa Finley, slugging designated hitter Calli Jo Varner, and the multi-talented Snyder, the Tigers lead the league in runs scored and home runs.

If Princeton has been plagued by one thing, however, it has been offensive inconsistency. With Snyder and Schaus posting dominating performances with regularity, the outcome of games generally hinges on the production of the hitters. In fact, the Tigers have averaged just one run per game in their past seven losses, as compared to 5.9 runs per game in their past seven wins.

Looking at these numbers, it is clear that even mighty Princeton can at times fall victim to the very ailment that plagues its cellar-dwelling opponents: stagnancy on offense that puts wonderful starting pitching to waste. If the Tigers can discover a cure for this disease over the next two days, clinching a share of the Ivy League title may turn out to be the least of their accomplishments.