Softball: Ivy title defense resumes on road

The Tigers (7-11 overall, 2-2 Ivy) start Saturday in Hanover, N.H., with a doubleheader against the Big Green (10-12, 3-1). The team will finish the Ivy North portion of its schedule Sunday with a pair of games against Harvard (15-7, 3-1). Last season, Princeton earned four home wins against these teams, but the Tigers don’t anticipate any easy games against their northern foes.

“We’re expecting good competition,” junior pitcher Jamie Lettire said. “The league has come a long way, and there is a very even playing field.”

After a slow start, Dartmouth has played well in recent games, winning five of its last seven games. The team showed a diversity of talent in its wins against Columbia on Monday, relying on both power and patience at the plate to score runs.

Big Green ace Hillary Barker had a particularly strong showing, as she and fellow starter Devin Lindsay each pitched one-run complete games. This season’s leader for Dartmouth has been catcher Molly Khalil, who leads the team in most offensive categories, posting a .302 average while slugging six doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI.

On paper, the tougher matchup for the Tigers will come in Sunday’s games against the Crimson, the defending Ivy North champions. This year, Harvard is likely an even better team, thanks to the addition of several superb freshmen.

At the plate, rookie infielder Whitney Shaw has put up a team-best .317 average from the third spot in the line. In addition to her talent with the bat, Shaw has shown a great deal of patience, earning 10 walks already this year for an astonishing .474 on-base percentage.

But as dangerous as the Harvard lineup can be, the real strength of this Crimson team lies with its pitching. Rachel Brown has been unquestionably the most dominant pitcher in the Ivy League this year. In three weeks of Ivy League awards, Brown has twice been named both Rookie of the Week and Pitcher of the Week.

A look at Brown’s numbers quickly validates these honors. She has appeared in 12 games for the Crimson, compiling a 10-1 record and 1.05 ERA while striking out 115 batters. She has gone the distance in each of her nine starts, including a one-hitter against Columbia in Harvard’s Ivy League opener last Saturday.

While Harvard will be bringing young talent into the games on Sunday, the Tigers will be relying on their corps of veteran leaders.

Senior infielder Kathryn Welch, a first-team All Ivy selection last year, has been phenomenal through the team’s first 18 games, recording a staggering .453 batting average to go with her three home runs and 19 RBI.

Several other Princeton stars, however, have yet to find their groove this season. Lettire, last year’s Ivy League Co-Player of the Year, has struggled at the plate. Lettire has pitched well — she leads the team with a 3.45 ERA — but the team is looking for her to bring up her average and cut down on her strikeouts.

Perhaps the most troubling slump for the Tigers is that of junior infielder Kelsey Quist, a first-team All-Ivy selection last year who tied with Lettire for Princeton’s single-season home run record.

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Quist managed just two hits over four games last weekend and has struck out 14 times on the season en route to a .218 average.

With all this talent, the Tigers are clearly disappointed with their seasons so far, but they said they have the personnel to repeat as champions.

“[Last weekend] was frustrating,” Lettire said. “We expected a lot more of ourselves. But we’ve had a couple of days to work as a team, and we are pumped up for this weekend.”

Lettire went on to discuss the energy and focus the team has built up for this weekend, which she said were lacking in previous games.

“[Brown and Yale] came out to beat the Ivy champs,” Lettire said. “And we didn’t come out to defend [the title].”

The Tigers’ mid-week game against Hofstra was rained out, so they had additional time to prepare for the weekend.

“We wanted to work on the small, disciplined things that make us a better team,” Lettire said.

For a talented team like the Tigers, it can be easy to lose sight of the fundamental techniques that have made Princeton an Ivy powerhouse in recent years.

This weekend’s games will be an important test to see if the Tigers have awoken and gained the focus necessary to play up to their incredible potential.