Tigers drop doubleheader day after taking Ivy title

The poor performance the softball team displayed against St. Joseph's University on a windy afternoon Tuesday at Class of 1895 Stadium hardly seemed to fit with the Ivy League championship it claimed Monday. The Tigers (33-16 overall, 12-2 Ivy League) had a rough outing against the Hawks (17-19), dropping both games, 3-1 and 2-0.

Sophomore pitchers Amelia Runyan and Calli Jo Varner got the starts for Princeton after seeing little recent playing time because of the powerful duo of freshman Kristen Schaus and junior Erin Snyder. The latter two have carried the Tigers this season and won repeat Rookie and Pitcher of the Week honors last week. Though Runyan and Varner took losses Monday, their individual performances were not poor by any means — it was the Tigers anemic offense that doomed them to defeat.

In the first game, Princeton started the scoring, as Snyder stroked an runs-batted-in single up the middle of the infield to make the score 1-0. Her hit scored junior shortshop Christina Cobb-Adams, who led off the inning with a single and was bunted over to second base by freshman second baseman Lauren Bierman.

Varner threw an impressive game early on, limiting St. Joe's to ground balls for the first three innings. Leading off the fourth, Hawks catcher Alicia Cunic drew a walk and eventually reached second on a passed ball. St. Joe's Cara Deldeo followed this with a big home run to put the Hawks on top for the rest of the game, 2-1, one of Varner's only mistakes over the seven-inning game.

Third baseman Rachel Pawlikowski followed up the homer by lining a double into the leftfield corner. The rally continued when catcher Lynn Ann Ravert singled in the runner at second, pushing the score to 3-1. She tried to stretch her single into a double on the throw home, but a heads-up play by senior catcher Ty Ries at home nailed her at second, ending a possibly bigger run for St. Joe's.

It was much the same in the second game, except the pitching was even stronger. Runyan not only delivered good pitches and got out of innings quickly, but she also made great plays on the mound to get key outs on bouncers up the middle.

In the top of the second, one Runyan pitch stayed high in the strike zone and was crushed by Deldeo over the fence to give the Hawks a one-run lead. Though the Tigers hit hard liners, they were not able to mount a comeback, as their hits always seemed to be in just the wrong part of the ballpark.

St. Joe's tacked on another run in the seventh inning, but it was not without controversy. Pawlikowski hit a one-out single through the gap in the left side of the infield. Ravert followed up with a gapper to leftfield. Princeton was able to catch the runner at third as Andras deftly applied a tag to end the rally. She was immediately called out, but the other umpire quickly overruled the decision because Andras apparently interfered with the play. Though the Tigers protested, the game went on with the Hawks in scoring position, depriving Princeton of a critical out.

As is often the case with botched calls, St. Joe's capitalized, and a single to left put them up, 2-0.

In the bottom of the seventh, Snyder led off the inning with a double crushed to the left-centerfield gap. Erickson followed up with a big fly ball to leftfield that looked as if it was going to fall in the gap, but yet another great play by a Hawks fielder quickly ended the excitement. Freshman leftfielder Beth Dalmut then followed with a fly out to left, and the game ended with a grounder to third from sophomore rightfielder Stephanie Steel.

From here, the Tigers move onto the next stage, a seeding in the NCAA tournament. Though it is nice to have the bid, Princeton still has a long wait before May 15 when it learns what seed it will be.

The Tigers will finish the regular season this weekend at home with a doubleheader against Villanova and a doubleheader against Rider.