Opening its Ivy League season yesterday afternoon with a doubleheader against Penn (9-13 overall, 0-2 Ivy League), the softball team (19-7, 2-0) earned a pair of convincing wins, fueled by complete-game shutouts from junior pitcher Erin Snyder and freshman pitcher Kristen Schaus.
After Snyder (10-2) pitched the Tigers to a 4-0 win in the opener, Schaus took the mound and looked equally impressive in a 3-0 win to secure the sweep.
Snyder's team-leading fifth shutout of the season came on the heels of the perfect game she pitched last week in the team's home-opener against Fairfield. In allowing just two hits and striking out 11 over seven innings, Snyder continued to display the dominating stuff that has propelled her to a 10-2 record this season.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Snyder also showed the Quakers that she knows how to handle the bat. With no outs and no one on base, Snyder drove a 1-0 offering over the left-centerfield fence, providing herself with all the runs she would need. The solo shot broke a scoreless tie and raised Snyder's season total of runs batted in to 16.
Later in the inning, sophomore rightfielder Stephanie Steel would add injury to insult for the Ivy League rival Quakers. Steel grounded to first, and the Penn first baseman stepped on the bag for the final out of the fourth. The Quaker was slow to clear out of the base path, though, and Steel was running with her head down. Steel crashed into her, sending both players tumbling to the ground.
Though neither player was seriously hurt in the collision, only the Tigers, as a team, would get up and brush themselves off. While Penn continued to be shut down by the overpowering Snyder, Princeton added two runs to its lead in the very next inning.
With one out in the fifth, junior second baseman Lindsay Motal lined a double into deep left-center. The two-bagger scored junior shortstop Cristina Cobb-Adams, who had two hits in the game. Motal advanced to third on the throw home, and would herself score when senior centerfielder Melissa Finley's grounder to third was misplayed two batters later.
Later, in the sixth inning, designated hitter Calli Jo Varner provided Snyder with one final insurance run, shooting a low liner to left that cleared the fence for her second round-tripper of the season. The solo home run was one of seven hits for the Tigers in the game.
The second contest of the day looked from the start to be a pitchers' duel between a pair of freshman phenoms, as Princeton's Kristen Schaus went up against Penn's Ann Ferracane.
Schaus was stellar in the early going and, on the rare occasion when the Quakers managed to make contact, she was backed up by a solid Princeton defense. With no outs in the second inning, Steel came sprinting in from right field to steal a hit from Penn's Christina Khosravi with a headfirst dive. In the top of the fourth, Cobb-Adams ranged to her right at shortstop to snare a liner buzzing over her head.
For the first four innings, Ferracane, who entered the game leading the Quakers with a 5-4 record and a 2.59 earned run average, matched Schaus out for out. But, with the game scoreless and one away in the bottom of the fifth, leftfielder Tiffany Andras awakened Princeton's dormant offense with a double to center, which was followed by a Motal single.
One batter later, offensive standout Finley stepped to the plate with runners at the corners. She drew a full count, coolly fouled off four straight pitches, then blasted a shot to center that glanced off the outfielder's glove and over the wall, giving Princeton the 3-0 advantage. The home run, Finley's team-best fifth of the season, also moved her past Snyder for the team lead in runs batted in with 18.
Schaus set the Quakers down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh to complete the four-hit shutout and improve her record to 7-4. Her 11 strikeouts brought her season total to 114, just three behind Snyder.
As Schaus and Snyder continue to make a case for themselves as the Ivy League's most imposing pitching duo, Princeton fans can expect great things from a team that knows how to put runs on the board at the most opportune moments.
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