Softball: Injuries pile up ahead of series with Columbia

The Tigers (7-25 overall, 1-7 Ivy League) will play two doubleheaders against Columbia this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Last year, the Tigers swept the Lions (9-22, 1-7), winning all four games. Princeton hopes that despite all the injuries the team has sustained this season, the Tigers can repeat history and have a four-game winning weekend.

Columbia and Princeton hold the same Ivy League record, which should create a competitive weekend at Columbia’s home field. Not only do the two teams hold the same record, but their lone wins in the Ivy League came from the same team: Brown. Columbia beat Brown by five runs, whereas Princeton only beat the Bears by one run in a close 6-5 game.

While Columbia does have homefield advantage, New York City is not that far from Princeton, which could cut down on the effect of travel on the Tigers’ game.

The Tigers will be looking to senior pitcher and first baseman Jamie Lettire and freshman catcher Sarah Rounsifer, who hold the two best batting averages on the team, to score several runs this weekend. Catcher and outfielder Kayla Lechler has the highest batting average on the Columbia team and will be an important player for Princeton’s pitchers — freshmen Alex Peyton and Liza Kuhn, as well as Lettire — to look out for.

As the injured list continues to grow for the Tigers, they are counting more and more on their players diverse playing ability.

“We have a decent amount of injuries, but we are fortunate to have versatile players that can play multiple positions,” freshman infielder Nikki Chu said. “So with a couple players injured, we have others that have stepped up to not only fill their spots, but also fulfill the job of the position.”

The Tigers are going to try and take the game back to the basics and focus on each element in order to produce a successful result this weekend.

“The most important aspect for our team is to play focused softball from inning one to inning seven each game,” Chu said. “Focused hitting in the sense that we focus on each at-bat to score or advance runners, put a bunt down to move someone into scoring position, or simply get ourselves on [base]. Focused fielding in the sense that every ball hit to us gets taken care of, and the play that needs to be executed is executed.”

If the Tigers can focus simply on bringing players across the finish line and scoring runs, they will be in much better shape than they have been in the last couple weekends, when they have had trouble scoring runs, particularly in the middle innings of the game.

This weekend is important for Princeton because it kicks off a series of Ivy League games over the next few weeks.

“All in all,” Chu said, “if we focus on playing ‘Tiger softball,’ and have fun this weekend, we should expect to see success.”