Princeton University Athletics
Softball Seniors Lead Tigers To 10-Inning Win At Rider
May 04, 2004 | Softball
May 4, 2004
Stats
Lawrenceville, N.J. - Seniors Wendy Bingham and Kristin Del Calvo combined for five hits and six runs in their final day wearing orange and black as Princeton split a non-conference doubleheader with Rider at the Rider Campus Field. Melissa Finley went 2 for 4 with two runs and the 29th home run of her career, and was the winning pitcher in the 7-4 10-inning Game 1 victory before Princeton lost the second game, which was shortened due to darkness, 6-3 in five innings.
Princeton ended its season at 24-23 overall and 7-7 in the Ivy League while Rider moved to 29-18 overall and 7-5 in the MAAC.
Princeton and Rider battled through three scoreless innings in Game 1 before the Tigers scored off their first hit of the day and led 1-0 until the bottom of the seventh. The Brocs tied the game three times in the next three innings but Princeton won it with four runs in the tenth. In the fourth, Finley hit a two-out solo homer, her eighth home run this season, for a 1-0 Princeton lead. Erin Snyder followed with Princeton's second hit, a single to left center, but was stranded on a fly-out.
Finley's home run, which cleared the center field fence, brought her three-year career total to 29, shattering the previous school record of 22 career home runs with her entire senior season yet to play.
Rider loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fourth but Finley retired the final batter to escape the inning with the lead.
Stephanie Steel got Princeton's third hit in the fifth, Cristina Cobb-Adams singled up the middle and stole second and Tiffany Andras doubled in the seventh but all three were stranded. The Tigers still held their 1-0 lead; however, the Broncs would capitalize in their final at-bat of regulation.
In the bottom of the seventh, Brandey Weed had her fourth hit of the game before being put out at second on a Maddy Boulden grounder. Jamie Farley then hit a two-out bloop single into center field for the game-tying RBI, scoring Courtney Weed, who singled.
Wendy Bingham and Kristin Del Calvo led off the eighth with consecutive near-foul singles and advanced on a Cobb-Adams sacrifice bunt. With two outs against Princeton after a pop-out to the catcher, and with two strikes against her, Snyder slammed a grounder up the middle to drive home both runs. The Tigers led 3-1 entering the bottom of the eighth.
Rider put the game-tying runs on base with a fielder's choice that put out Amanda Tu, who reached on an error, and with a Nichole Mears single up the middle. With two outs and a full count against her, Courtney Weed hit a two-run triple to right center to knot the game again at 3-3.
Andras singled in the ninth and Steel launched a rocket to center field but Courtney Weed made the defensive play of the game when she slammed into the fence and grabbed the would-be game-tying homer.
After a scoreless ninth inning, the game applied the International Tiebreaker Rule in the tenth. Bingham started on second, moved to third on a failed fielder's choice that let Del Calvo on, and scored the go-ahead run on a squeeze play bunt by Cobb-Adams.
Del Calvo scored the second run of the inning on a Snyder sacrifice fly, and Princeton then loaded the bases with a Finley single and a Rider error that put Lindsay Motal on first. Ty Ries ripped a two-run single to right for the 7-3 lead.
Rider got one run back in the bottom of the tenth with Courtney Weed's third RBI of the game.
Finley (8-8) had seven strikeouts on the mound and finished the game 2 for 4 with two runs and one RBI while Snyder went 2 for 4 with three RBIs.
In the first inning of Game 2, Bingham singled and scored off a Cobb-Adams single to right center. Bingham scored again in the third when she got another infield base hit, advanced on a Cobb-Adams sacrifice bunt and came home on Finley's double deep into right center. Finley scored Princeton's third run off an Andras single to center field.
Rider scored its first run in the bottom of the third off three straight hits before a three-run homer gave the Broncs the lead. Courtney Weed and Brandey Weed led off with consecutive singles and Boulden got an RBI single into right center to put Rider on the board. With one out and two runners on, Kristin Kenavan hit her seventh homer of the year over the center field fence, and Rider took the 4-3 lead.
Calli Varner relieved Amelia Runyan (3-2) on the mound but immediately gave up an RBI single to Mears and another run off a wild pitch before getting the last two outs. Rider led 6-3 after three.
The Tigers loaded the bases in the fourth when Bingham walked and Del Calvo and Cobb-Adams reached on fielding errors, but all three were left on. The game was called in the fifth due to darkness.
Bingham finished 2 for 2 with one run while six other Tigers had one hit a piece.