Princeton University Athletics
1999 Softball Review
October 11, 1999 | Softball
A quick glance at the 1999 softball season would not provide too many happy points. Granted, it was a season that the team and its coaching staff would not want to repeat anytime soon. A closer look shows that there were a number of positives that came out of the season.
And many of those positives are helping the Tigers prepare to make a run at next year's Ivy League crown.
With some talented seniors and a tremendous group of freshmen and sophomores, the Tigers seemed to have enough players to make another run for the title last year. As it turned out, Cohen received the most support from her junior class.
By the way, that was a junior class of one.
Ace pitcher Sarah Peterman showed that she would be a force on the mound when she opened the season with a 1-0 shutout of Eastern Michigan. It was part of a two-game sweep at the Virginia Tournament that seemed to signify another strong season for the Orange and Black.
Unfortunately, the spring trip to Florida produced a significantly different outlook. The Tigers went 2-12 over the nine-day span, easily the toughest stretch for Cohen in her 17 seasons. By the time they arrived home, the confidence they gained in Virginia seemed about as far away as, well, Virginia.
The rest of the season was like a ride on a roller coaster. There were a fair share of highlights and phenomenal individual accomplishments, but the drops — especially one in Ithaca, N.Y. — kept the Tigers grounded. Princeton swept Rutgers upon its return and split the Princeton Invitational with Massachusetts. In the title-clinching win over Connecticut, sophomore Vicki Siesta blasted a solo home run to left-centerfield. It seemed like an exciting moment for a vastly improved player. As it turned out, it was the beginning of a record-tying trend.
The Ivy League campaign opened with a sweep of Pennsylvania. The Tigers had to sweat out a 3-2 win over the upstart Quakers in Game 1. Game 2, which was televised by a local cable channel, went from a softball game to The Siesta Show. The New Jersey native, who combined with teammate Devon Keefe to form the league's best catcher tandem, launched a grand slam over the right field fence in the second inning.
She couldn't equal that feat in her next at-bat, but that was only because there were two people on base, not three. Siesta took a third-inning pitch and deposited it in nearly the same location for a three-run blast. In two at-bats, she had two hits, two runs and seven RBIs.
Four days later Siesta hit two more home runs in a sweep of Temple. She accounted for all five of Princeton's runs in the sweep. Peterman shut the Owls out in the first game, striking out eight while allowing only three hits. The junior hurler had a streak of seven complete-game shutouts in eight starts toward the end of the season, and she provided a lift for a team that finally seemed to find its confidence.
Unfortunately, the Tigers forgot to bring it with them to Cornell. The Big Red swept the Tigers in a pair of games that haunted the Tigers the rest of the season. Combine that with a frustrating sweep at the hands of Hofstra, and there were many more questions than Princeton had answers.
To its credit, Princeton could have packed in the season right there. The Tigers battled back, due in part to the leadership of seniors Wendy Herm and Tanya Hendricks. Herm, a 1997 first-team All-Ivy pick, moved from position to position to help Cohen put the best lineup on the field. Hendricks was the smoothest and most reliable shortstop in the league. Although neither produced astounding numbers at the plate, they did their part in keeping the younger teammates up and focused.
One of those younger teammates was Brie Galicinao, a freshman who batted third most of the season and became Princeton's most reliable hitter. Galicinao had seven hits in a 3-1 Ivy League weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard. She also provided relief on the mound and ended the season as a strong second starter behind Peterman. Although the Tigers were never able to get back into the league race, performances from the likes of Galicinao, Peterman, Siesta and Keefe, who was named second-team all-region, gave Princeton reasons to look forward to next season.
Highlights
Brie Galicinao was a first-team All-Ivy selection.
Kim Veenstra, Sarah Peterman, Devon Keefe and Vicki Siesta were each second-team All-Ivy selections.
The Tigers won the Princeton Invitational with wins over Hofstra and UConn.
Sophomore catcher Vicki Siesta tied the Princeton single-season home run record by hitting seven round-trippers.
Results
23-28 overall, 8-4 Ivy League
| 3/6 | Eastern Michigan # | W | 1-0 |
| 3/6 | North Carolina # | W | 10-4 |
| 3/12 | Northern Iowa $ | L | 7-2 |
| 3/12 | Penn State $ | L | 5-4 |
| 3/13 | Georgia State $ | L | 3-0 |
| 3/13 | Marshall $ | W | 3-1 |
| 3/14 | Georgia Southern $ | L | * 3-2 |
| 3/17 | at South Florida | L | 1-0 |
| 3/17 | at South Florida | L | 9-5 |
| 3/18 | at Florida Atlantic | L | 8-4 |
| 3/18 | at Florida Atlantic | L | 8-6 |
| 3/19 | Pittsburgh % | L | 5-1 |
| 3/20 | Pittsburgh & | L | 5-1 |
| 3/20 | Florida Atlantic & | W | 3-2 |
| 3/21 | Michigan State & | L | 6-0 |
| 3/21 | Pittsburgh & | L | 1-0 |
| 3/25 | at Rutgers | W | ** 2-0 |
| 3/25 | at Rutgers | W | 11-0 |
| 3/27 | Hofstra ? | W | 9-3 |
| 3/27 | UMass ? | L | 4-0 |
| 3/28 | CONNECTICUT ? | W | * 3-2 |
| 3/30 | at Drexel | L | 2-1 |
| 3/30 | at Drexel | W | 5-2 |
| 4/2 | PENNSYLVANIA | W | 3-2 |
| 4/2 | PENNSYLVANIA | W | 14-1 |
| 4/3 | BOSTON COLLEGE | L | 11-0 |
| 4/3 | BOSTON COLLEGE | L | 3-1 |
| 4/6 | TEMPLE | W | 2-0 |
| 4/6 | TEMPLE | W | 3-2 |
| 4/10 | at Cornell | L | 2-0 |
| 4/10 | at Cornell | L | 6-1 |
| 4/13 | at Hofstra | L | 7-5 |
| 4/13 | at Hofstra | L | 8-2 |
| 4/17 | DARTMOUTH | W | 1-0** |
| 4/17 | DARTMOUTH | W | 14-1 |
| 4/18 | HARVARD | W | 1-0 |
| 4/18 | HARVARD | L | 10-1 |
| 4/21 | at Rider | W | 5-0 |
| 4/21 | at Rider | L | 6-5 |
| 4/24 | at Brown | W | 4-0 |
| 4/24 | at Brown | L | 4-3 |
| 4/25 | at Yale | W | 5-0 |
| 4/25 | at Yale | W | 9-1 |
| 4/27 | VILLANOVA | W | 3-0 |
| 4/27 | VILLANOVA | L | 4-1 |
| 5/1 | at Connecticut | L | 4-3 |
| 5/1 | at Connecticut | W | 4-3 |
| 5/2 | at Fairfield | W | 9-0 |
| 5/2 | at Fairfield | L | 2-1 |
| 5/8 | at Maryland | L | 4-3 |
| 5/8 | at Maryland | L | 3-2 |
# - Virginia Tournament at Charlottesville, Va.
$ - Florida State Tournament at Tallahassee, Fla.
% - at Boca Raton, Fla.
& - Florida Atlantic Tournament at Boca Raton, Fla.
? - Princeton Invitational
* - 8 innings, ** 9 innings