Princeton University Athletics
Softball Defeats Yale 5-3 In Game Two Of Ivy League Doubleheader
April 18, 2004 | Softball
April 18, 2004
Stats
Princeton, N.J. - Melissa Finley scored three runs, hit her sixth home run of the season and was the winning pitcher as Princeton defeated Yale 5-3 in the second game of an Ivy League doubleheader at the Class of 1895 Field. Yale won the first game 1-0 despite Erin Snyder's 11 strikeouts on the mound.
The split moved Princeton to 20-15 overall and 6-4 in the Ivy League and Yale to 24-16 and 6-2.
Yale came out strong in the first game, loading the bases off two Princeton fielding errors to start the first inning before Snyder struck out the last two batters looking.
Through four scoreless innings, Snyder kept throwing strikes and the Bulldogs kept swinging. But after Snyder fanned the first two in the fifth, Leah Kelley reached on a bunt, stole second and third, and scored on a two-strike squeeze bunt by Beth Pavlicek. Yale held on to its 1-0 lead for the next two innings to escape with the win. Snyder finished with 11 strikeouts and gave up just four hits for Princeton but Peggy Hunt earned the win, striking out two and allowing five hits. Amanda Erickson, Erin Snyder, Melissa Finley, Wendy Bingham and Kristin Lueke each had one hit for the Tigers.
Yale struck first in the second game, scoring one run off two hits in the first. Kelley singled up the right side and advanced to second and third on consecutive ground outs before Chelsea Kanyer's two-out RBI single to left field.
The Tigers tied the game in the bottom of the second with Snyder's single to center that sent Finley, who walked, from second base to home.
The Bulldogs quickly regained their lead in the third with Kelley's second run of the game. Leading off the inning, Kelley walked, advanced to second on an Andrea Guerland groundout, stole third and scored on Kristy Kwiatkowski's single to deep right. Yale loaded the bases with the 2-1 lead but stranded all three at the end of the third.
Finley hit a solo homer, her sixth home run this season, over the left field fence in the fourth to knot the game 2-2 but Yale immediately answered. The Bulldogs were relentless at the plate and took their lead back with a run off two hits and a sac fly in the fifth. Pavlicek doubled to right field and Kanyer singled to left before Kwiatkowski's sacrifice fly to deep right let Pavlicek steal home. Yale led 3-2 in the top of the fifth.
The Tigers took their first lead of the game with two runs off three hits in the bottom of the fifth. Kristin Del Calvo sparked Princeton with a single to left, and pinch-runner Tiffany Wilson advanced to second on a Lindsay Motal sacrifice bunt. Bingham singled past third base to score Wilson, who stole third, and then scored the go-ahead run when Steel doubled to deep right.
Calli Varner relieved Finley, who struck out two and allowed seven hits, to start the fifth, and the freshman fanned three of the five batters she faced in the inning.
Yale also had a pitching change as Hunt relieved Pavlicek after the first two batters in the sixth. After Snyder grounded into a double play, Del Calvo singled to left field to score Finley, who was hit by the pitch to start the inning. Princeton led 5-3 after six innings.
Amelia Runyan finished the win on the mound in the top of the seventh, striking out one and giving up just one hit.
Del Calvo finished the second game 2 for 3 with one RBI while six other Tigers had one hit apiece. Yale had nine hits but left 10 runners on base, compared to just four by Princeton.
Princeton returns to action with a home doubleheader this Thursday, April 22 at 3 p.m. against Seton Hall. The Tigers host two more Ivy League doubleheaders next weekend with Cornell at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Columbia at 1 p.m. on Sunday.