Tigers look forward to second weekend of play

As the season kicks into gear, the women’s softball team has a lot to look forward to in games played away from its frozen home field. Last weekend, the Tigers played four games in a tournament at Florida Atlantic University, coming out of the weekend with a 1-4 record. This weekend, the Tigers will return to Florida to play four games at the University of Central Florida. Princeton will face the Florida A&M on Friday at 11:30 a.m., University of Central Florida at 4 p.m., Long Island University on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and Iowa on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

Last weekend, the Tigers got off to a rocky start before sweeping the University of North Florida on Saturday. They opened their season with games against the University of Albany and Florida Atlantic University on Friday, falling to both teams 12-4 and 5-0, respectively. The Albany game opened with six runs against Princeton freshman pitcher Ashley LaGuardia in her collegiate debut, which gave the Great Danes a lead they held for the rest of the game. Albany led 8-1 going into the bottom of the third, but the Tigers responded with a strong inning that saw runs batted in singles from senior catcher Cara Worden, junior first baseman Emily Viggers and freshman shortstop/second baseman Danielle Dockx. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Great Danes picked up another two runs in the top of the sixth inning to take the game into run-rule territory, ending the game and giving Albany the win.

Junior pitcher Shanna Christian started the second game of last weekend against FAU, pitching two scoreless innings. The Owls pushed back against relief pitchers LaGuardia and sophomore Claire Klausner to score two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, one in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth. FAU pitcher Tatum Buckley only gave up one hit to the Tigers on a two out single, hit by freshman outfielder Kylee Pierce in the top of the third.

Last Saturday began with the Tigers falling to A&M 9-5 before they rallied to defeat North Florida 6-0. The top of the first inning of the A&M game opened with two Rattler runs, but the Tigers responded with three of their own in the bottom half of the inning on a home run from Worden. In the top of the fifth the Rattlers scored three more runs to pull ahead, and during the bottom of the sixth inning the Tigers scored two runs of their own to tie the game. The Tigers, unfortunately, were not able to fend off Florida A&M during the seventh, when the Rattlers scored four more runs to win the game.

The second game of the day saw an incredible performance from LaGuardia, as she began to come into her own as a collegiate pitcher to mark her first collegiate win. LaGuardia shut out North Florida, giving up only five hits and three runs, striking out five batters. The Tigers scored two runs in the first, fourth and seventh innings, with Dockx hitting her first career home run in the fourth.

A rematch against North Florida on Sunday didn’t turn out quite as well for the Tigers as the first meeting of the weekend, with the Tigers falling 3-0 despite outhitting the Ospreys. LaGuardia gave up only for hits and three walks, striking out five batters. UNF scored its first run in the bottom of the first with a walk, a single and a sacrifice fly. The last two runs of the game were also scored in the first inning on a home run. Six Tiger runners were in scoring position through the game, with Tiger hits in five of the innings.

Last weekend was a big one for the rookies, all of whom made a significant impact on the field. Dockx and freshman outfielder Kylee Pierce started in all five games, while LaGuardia pitched 21 of the 32 innings played over the weekend in a strong opening weekend. LaGuardia will likely see a lot of time on the mound this season due to injuries across the rest of the pitching staff. The top two returning Tiger pitchers are both still recovering, and even though Christian pitched well last weekend through two innings against FAU, it’s questionable how much she will be able to play so early on in the season. Klausner will also likely see pitching time during the upcoming weekend.

Two Tigers came out of last weekend’s games with batting averages above .300 on over 10 at bats, with senior infielder/outfielder Rachel Rendina batting .333 and Worden batting .308. Junior first baseman/third baseman Kayla Bose batted .500 on two at bats, while Klausner and senior first baseman/ third baseman Sarah McGowan batted .333 on three at bats. Sophomore Haley Hineman, the only returning player this season to bat over .300 last season, went .200 on 15 at bats last weekend, and will likely be another player to watch in this weekend’s games.

This weekend’s matchups will likely be difficult ones for the Tigers against strong teams. The Tigers will rematch Florida A&M, while playing UCF for the second year in a row after falling last year to the Knights 4-0. The Tigers haven’t had a match against Long Island since 2007, which the Tigers won 7-5. This weekend will be the first time the Tigers have ever faced off against Iowa, but the last time the Tigers were victorious over a Big 10 program was in 2006 against the University of Illinois.