Softball team gets ready for Ivy League play and home openers

This weekend, the women’s softball team will open up Ivy League play in a doubleheader against Brown on Saturday and will then take on Rider University on Sunday. The Tigers (7-13) have played all of their games away so far this season and will host their first home game at 1985 Stadium on Sunday against Rider.

The Tigers, after a successful spring break trip in which they went 3-2, losing two games by one point, are coming off a disappointing 2-4 loss against Monmouth University on Wednesday.

Monmouth got on the board in the first inning, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first, with another run in the third before Princeton managed to score two runs in the top of the fifth inning. No Tiger made it past first base during the final two innings, with Monmouth scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth to secure its victory.

The Tigers have started the season with a lot of new talent and have lost seven games by only one run. Two Tigers have been batting at .300, senior infielder Alyssa Schmidt on 50 at bats and junior first baseman Emily Viggers on 40 at bats. Schmidt has scored 5 runs this season, while Viggers has scored 3. Junior catcher Skye Jerpbak follows closely behind, batting .286 on 49 appearances at bat, and is tied with senior catcher Cara Worden and freshman outfielder Kylee Pierce for a team-high 10 runs so far this season.

Turning to the pitching staff, freshman pitcher Ashley LaGuardia leads the pack with a 3.09 ERA on 63.1 innings pitched and a 4-8 record. Veteran pitchers sophomore Erica Nori and junior Shanna Christian have started easing back into play after injuries, with Nori pitching only 1.2 innings so far this season and Christian pitching 20.2.

Brown (5-7) is coming off of a split doubleheader against St. Mary’s College on March 24 and will face off against Cornell on Friday the 27 before it plays Princeton. Princeton’s last four games against Brown have seen the Tigers dominate, with Princeton either splitting or sweeping the last 17 doubleheaders. Janet Leung leads the Bears with a scorching .429 batting average on 42 appearances at bat, with four more Bears batting between .295 and .286 on at least 17 appearances at the plate. Scouting the pitching staff, Katie Orona has a 2.04 ERA on 37.2 innings, followed by Jessica Cherness, who has a 3.12 ERA on 24.2 innings.

Princeton was originally scheduled to face off against Yale and Brown on Friday and Saturday, respectively, but the games were moved and rescheduled due to field conditions and weather, with the Yale games rescheduled for April 22. Princeton will play Brown at 2 p.m. at Bordentown Regional High School.