Softball heads into Penn battle on a losing streak

In the midst of a tight race for the postseason, the softball team took one game from Ivy South rival Columbia but dropped the second game of its doubleheader in New York on Wednesday. Yesterday at 1895 Field, the Tigers lost a pair of games against non-conference opponent Villanova to fall to 1-3 over their past four games.

The Tigers (18-25 overall, 8-4 Ivy League) and Lions (17-19, 7-9) were scheduled to play two doubleheaders last weekend, but after splitting their Saturday set, the teams were forced to postpone their second pair of games until Wednesday.

In the opener, Princeton notched a 2-1 victory with some late-inning heroics by sophomore rightfielder Erin Miller. The game was a pitcher's duel from the start, with junior ace Kristen Schaus (8-11) anchoring the Tigers against Columbia's Aimee Kemp (12-9). Schaus pitched a complete game and got the win while striking out eight.

The Tigers took the lead in the fifth inning on freshman first baseman and pitcher Jamie Lettire's solo shot over the left-field wall. The home run was the slugger's fourth in a season that has seen Lettire and her fellow freshmen account for 10 of the team's 19 homers.

Columbia quickly tied it up, though, when outfielder Lacie Nelson countered Lettire's blast with a home run of her own in the bottom of the fifth. The score remained tied at one when Princeton came up to bat in the decisive seventh.

"The last inning we got a rally going, we had our rally caps on and we did it together as a team," Miller said.

With one out, senior designated player and pitcher Calli Jo Varner got the rally started with a single, and she moved to third after a walk and a fielder's choice. Miller then came through with a clutch two-out single that drove in Varner to give Princeton the lead. Schaus shut down Columbia in the bottom of the inning, and the Tigers claimed victory in the low-scoring affair.

"Things were a little tougher in the last few innings, but we dug deep and made some great plays in the field," Schaus said. "

In the second game, the Tigers were on the losing end of another one-run contest, falling 3-2. Princeton found itself in an early hole when a home run by Columbia's Valerie Smith launched her team to a 3-0 first-inning lead.

The home run came against Lettire (7-6), who then settled down and was dominant, allowing no runs for the rest of the game. The Tigers, though, could not mount enough of an offensive attack to overcome the first inning deficit.

Welch cracked the goose egg on the scoreboard when she homered in the third, and in the next inning, sophomore outfielder Brianna Moreno produced a run on a ground ball that drove Miller home. The Tiger run production stopped there for the day, however, and the team returned to Princeton with its second doubleheader split of the season against the Lions.

"It was good to pull out with a split, but yet again, they were two close games," Schaus said. "The Ivy race is really tight in our division right now, so every game is very important."

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On Thursday, the Tigers returned home to face Villanova (17-19), the doormat of the Big East. The Wildcats grabbed the opener, 6-5, in extra innings and staved off a Princeton charge to hold on for a 5-3 win in the nightcap.

With four ties over the course of the first game against the Wildcats, the score was 4-4 going into the seventh inning. Schaus, who threw a complete game, sent the Wildcats back to the dugout in order in the top of the inning. Then Miller, the hero from the day before, put her team in position to win with a two-out double, but she was stranded as Villanova forced extra innings by forcing an inning-ending fly out.

In extra innings, the tiebreaker rule went into effect, meaning each team started with a runner on second at the beginning of each half inning. That runner scored for Villanova when the Wildcat lead-off hitter singled her home.

The Tigers responded, though, with a run of their own in the bottom of the eighth when freshman rightfielder Kelsey Quist crossed the plate on a wild pitch. Princeton could not get the winning baserunner home, however, and the game continued into the ninth, knotted at five.

After Villanova scored a run on an RBI double to take a 6-5 lead, Princeton threatened to tie it up again when Moreno reached third with just one out. The Tigers attempted a squeeze play, but a bunt by Varner popped into the air. The Wildcat pitcher caught the bunt for one out and fired to third. Moreno couldn't scramble back to the base in time, and the double play sealed a Villanova victory.

In the second game, the Wildcats pounced on the Tigers for five runs in the first three innings. Varner (3-8) came on in relief for Lettire in the fourth and put Princeton in position to fight its way back into the game.

The highlight for the Tiger offense was a bomb off the bat of Quist, who launched a three-run homer into the trees in the bottom of the fourth to close the gap to 5-3. The bases-clearing shot came after a near home run by Lettire, who ended up with a double off the wall and scored on Quist's blast.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, they could not complete their comeback before the game was called due to darkness after the sixth inning.

Next up for Princeton is a pair of home doubleheaders this weekend against Penn. The weekend against the Quakers will be pivotal for the Ivy League race. While Princeton split its doubleheader with Columbia, Penn took both games against Cornell on Wednesday to strengthen its first-place spot in the Ivy South. Tied for second place, the Tigers and Big Red trail Penn by two games.

Princeton must claim at least two wins in the four games against Penn to remain in position to compete for first place when it faces Cornell the following weekend in the final conference games of the season.