The Tigers (6-17) have prepared for this weekend by playing in the Maryland Tournament in College Park, Md., as well as the South Bay Super Series and the Stanford Tournament during their spring break trip to California. More recently, the team hosted Rutgers and Lafayette last weekend.
“I actually like that we got to start a weekend that wasn’t Ivies because we had another weekend to learn, and I think that’s going to help us a lot,” sophomore centerfielder Nicole Ontiveros said. “I think the loss [to Lafayette] on Sunday was really tough for us, and we have a little fight in us from that because we don’t want it to happen again.”
The Tigers did have a good comeback last weekend, though. Princeton erased a two-run deficit in its second game against Rutgers to push the game into extra innings, but the Orange and Black eventually lost 4-3 in the ninth.
“We battle back when we’re down, which is something that’s really strong with our team,” Ontiveros said. “We have a lot of heart, we’re young and we’re learning. [Head coach Trina Salcido] just wants us to stay positive and take the positives from everything.”
The team will play Harvard (6-14) first in a twin bill on Friday afternoon. The Tigers hope to improve on last year’s results against the Crimson, when they split their two-game series with a 1-0 win and 5-2 loss.
One of Crimson’s strengths is its starting pitching, as Rachel Brown currently leads the Ivy League in innings pitched and shutouts and ranks third in ERA. She also tops the league in most strikeouts in an individual game.
Nevertheless, Princeton will be focused on making sure its bats keep churning out hits regardless of the opposing pitcher.
“We’ve seen some really great pitching in the last month, so it’s more about us just taking care of our hitters and taking care of our swing, so if we do that, great things will happen for us,” Salcido said.
Harvard infielder Melissa Schellberg is also at the top of her game, having just picked up Ivy League Player of the Week honors after hitting .467 and knocking in four runs in four games.
Dartmouth (1-15) has struggled so far this season, and its squad is currently ranked eighth in the Ivy League in team batting average, seventh in team ERA and eighth in fielding percentage.
The Tigers, though, are still looking forward to the challenge of getting some revenge — the Big Green swept last season’s series with 13-7 and 12-7 victories.
“I really want to beat Dartmouth, so I’m excited,” Ontiveros said. “The losses [last year] were really tough and we were really upset about them, so I think that’s going to fuel us going into the weekend.”
Perhaps the main thing Princeton needs to do to be successful this weekend is have fun.
“We need to go into it playing the game we love, which I think sometimes gets forgotten,” Ontiveros said. “I think one of the main things that happens is we just get too much into our heads.”.
The team will also be focusing on maintaining control of the game, something it had trouble doing against Lehigh.
“We scored runs in the first inning and got on top, but at the same time, we’re just kind of missing on the small things,” Salcido said. “We’re still trying to put it together and be like that team where the pitching is sharp and we’re doing the little things we can control. We’re hoping we’ll put everything together and step up to the Ivy competition.”
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