Princeton wins two of five games

The softball team's players may have been confused when they ended the past weekend's Tar Heel Invitational with a 4-2 win over North Dakota on Sunday. A margin of victory greater than one must have been a surprise for Princeton (2-3 overall, 0-0 Ivy League), since their first four games during the tournament were all decided by a single run.

Despite the fact that the team played well and showed signs of the dominant pitching that has been their trademark in recent years, their record leaving North Carolina is mediocre at best. The case of senior starter Erin Snyder, a first-team all-Ivy performer last year, sums up the Tigers' weekend quite well. Snyder made the all-tournament team by striking out 29 batters in 17 innings while only giving up one earned run, but had only a 1-1 record to show for her efforts.

Princeton's struggles began with its first game of the season, a narrow 5-4 loss against South Carolina (17-5 overall), a team that went on to win the Invitational. Sophomore pitcher Kristen Schaus, also a first-team all-Ivy performer in 2005, opened the game with four scoreless innings and began the fifth with a strikeout. But the next batter reached base on a bunt single and two batters later, South Carolina's shortstop McKenna Hughes homered to put the Gamecocks up 2-0 on the way to a 5-4 win.

The evening game was considerably better for the Tigers. Playing against North Carolina (14-4), Snyder put on a pitching clinic in a 2-1 victory that went into extra innings. In nine innings, she gave up four hits and one unearned run, and showed off her dominant stuff by striking out 15 Tar Heels.

The game's offensive heroes were junior centerfielder Stephanie Steel and senior first baseman Amanda Erickson. Steel, given the difficult job of replacing all-Ivy performer Melissa Finley '05, had an RBI single to drive in freshman infielder Jackie Araneo. After North Carolina tied the game in the bottom of the eighth to keep their hopes alive, Erickson got the game-winning hit — a single to left center that allowed junior right fielder Tiffany Andras to score.

Things did not get any easier for the team the next day, when the Tigers played a doubleheader against Canisius (4-5) and Memphis (8-7). Schaus was again in the circle for the first of the two games and pitched six effective innings, ceding one run while striking out nine players. Unfortunately for Princeton, Schaus' counterpart, Lindsay Garbacz, held the Tigers scoreless to pick up the win, 1-0.

Maintaining the pattern, the team's next game was also decided by a single run. In this case, the outcome again went against the Tigers in their 2-1 loss to Memphis. Snyder pitched well in her second game of the tournament. In eight innings of work she racked up fourteen strikeouts with 100 strikes, and showed off her stamina by throwing 119 pitches.

After giving up a homer early in the second inning, Snyder settled down and only ran into trouble in the eighth when Memphis put pressure on her with small-ball. Since the batting team begins every inning from the eighth onward with a runner on second, Memphis' Leila Dolfo was placed on second to start the inning.

After reaching third on a sacrifice bunt, Dolfo scored on a sacrifice fly. This one-run lead stood up in the bottom of the eighth as Nicki Johnson retired the Tigers in order to end the game.

Schaus returned to the circle against North Dakota State (4-10) for the tournament's final game in what was billed as a pitching duel against the Bison's Amber Garrett, but senior shortstop Cristina Cobb-Adams injected some offense into the game early on by leading off with a double. Freshman Kathryn Welch brought her home with a sacrifice fly to give Princeton a 1-0 head-start.

Schaus gave up two runs in the fourth on a fielder's choice and a wild pitch to give North Dakota State the lead. Eventually, however, the Tigers fought back in the sixth to tie the score and took advantage of crucial Bison mistakes — a leadoff walk and an error — to add two more runs in the seventh.

The players may well have breathed a sigh of relief afterward as the game was Princeton's first match-up not decided by one run. Before the Tigers get too relaxed, though, the team ought to remember the margin that really matters — their win-loss record. The Tigers will look to improve in that area as they go on a 10-day West Coast road trip starting March 17.