Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Nicholls St
Three Strikes For Princeton Softball In First Day Of Buzz Classic
March 22, 2003 | Softball
March 22, 2003
Box Score
MARIETTA, Ga. - Erin Valocsik went 3 for 5 with her first home run of the season in Princeton's two losses to Middle Tennessee and Nicholls State at the Buzz Classic.
The Tigers gained a 2-0 lead over Middle Tennessee in the second inning when Valocsik and catcher Lauren Palmer scored off two hits. Valocsik got on base with a walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a sacrifice grounder by catcher Ty Ries. She scored off a single by Palmer, who eventually reached home when pitcher Wendy Bingham singled into left field.
The Lady Raiders responded in the third when they scored four of their five runs. Three doubles, including Cortney Mitchell's 15th this season, pushed Middle Tennessee over the Tigers, 4-2. Princeton had a strong sixth inning beginning with back-to-back singles by shortstop Christina Cobb-Adams and Valocsik. Both Tigers stole base and scored when Bingham ripped a deep triple, but Princeton came up short, falling to Middle Tennessee, 5-4.
Princeton immediately changed opponents and faced Nicholls State, who entered the game 11-5, in the 2:00 p.m. game of the Buzz Classic.
After two scoreless innings, Nicholls State earned the first run of the game in the top of the third when second baseman Teri Clouarte launched a homer out of center field. The Colonels scored again before the Tigers could get on the board when Lindsey Yelverton reached first after being hit by Wendy Bingham's pitch. Yelverton scored off Coleman's single through the glove of shortstop Cristina Cobb Adams.
In the bottom of the fourth, Melissa Finley doubled into deep right before Cobb-Adams' double scored her for Princeton's first run of the game. The Colonels responded in the fifth when Teri Clouatre tripled and was brought home off a sacrifice fly by Jennifer Paray, increasing Nicholls State's lead to 3-1. Princeton's Erin Valocsik hit a solo homer, her first homerun of the season, to end the fifth.
Errors cost the Tigers another run in the sixth when Kristina Swart, who singled to open the inning, scored off a bad throw to first. The Colonels loaded the bases twice but Princeton was able to limit the damage to Swart's run and to stay in reach of Nicholls State, 4-2.
Two more scoreless innings for Princeton and a one-run finish for the Colonels left the Tigers down 5-2 at the end of the seventh.
Princeton (2-7) wraps up its Buzz Classic action and Spring Break trip tomorrow, when it meets Boston University at 11:00 a.m.