Princeton University Athletics
Sacramento State Takes Two from Princeton Softball
March 22, 2006 | Softball
March 22, 2006
Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - After a six-game winning streak was snapped yesterday at St. Mary's, the Princeton softball team (7-6) wasn't able to put a quick end to the skid at Sacramento State (17-10) on Wednesday afternoon. Getting only four base-runners in the opener, the Orange and Black fell 5-0 before the Hornets completed the sweep with a 4-0 win.
--GAME ONE--
Sacramento State's number-three hitter, Jamie Schloredt, had four RBI while Hornet starter Cassie Cervantes (5-3) quieted the Tiger bats. She allowed just one hit, a first-inning single, with three walks and 12 strikeouts, retiring stretches of eight and 10 batters over the course of the opener.
Princeton had runners on second and third in the opening frame with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat. The pair of stranded Tigers were a reminder of a game the team would rather forget after leaving 13 runners on base yesterday in the nightcap at St. Mary's, dropping a 6-1 contest. The cost of the missed chance was apparent immediately when in the bottom of the first, Schloredt smacked a high fly ball that landed just beyond the left-field fence for a 2-0 lead. The other runner on base was Lindy Winkler of Sacramento State, who turned an 0-2 count into a leadoff walk.
After Cervantes snuffed out Princeton's first-inning threat, the righthander retired the next eight batters before Stephanie Steel reached on a two-out fielding error in the third. Rookie Kathryn Welch followed with a walk, but a pop-up ended the inning. Schloredt victimized the Tigers again in the third, belting a one-out double to the wall in right-center, scoring two runs and giving Sacramento State a 4-0 lead.
Cervantes resumed her strong performance, sitting the next 10 batters before a walk to lead off the seventh. After the first inning, no Princeton runner got past second base and only one reached that point.
Calli Jo Varner took the circle for Princeton to start the bottom of the fifth. Snyder (3-2) was charged with five hits and four runs, all earned, walking one and fanning six. But Sacramento State's Winkler led off the inning with a triple to deep centerfield and was immediately cashed in on a single by Amy Tompkins for a 5-0 lead. Varner finished with two hits and an earned run in two innings, striking out three and walking one.
--GAME TWO--
Sacramento State starter Nikki Cinque (8-6) sat down the first five batters she faced before a walk to Lindsay Motal in the second inning. After the free pass, the Hornet hurler got right back on track, sending the next eight back to the dugout. Motal broke that string as well as the no-hit bid with a one-out double in the fifth.
Sacramento State's Britany Crine put the Hornets on the board first when she drove a two-out, 3-2 pitch to the wall in left-center that scored Gloria Toledo from second for a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. It was Crine who hurt Princeton again in the fourth with one out, tripling home Toledo, who led off the inning with a single. Crine scored on the same play when the throw from right field didn't find a glove on the other end and Sacramento State had a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Crine and Toledo combined once again, with the latter scoring on the former's one-out double that landed just in front of a sliding attempt by rookie Brianna Moreno in left for a 4-0 lead. The pair were both 3 for 3 for the game.
The Tigers had a chance to cut into the Hornet lead in the sixth when a walk to Welch gave Princeton runners at first and second with two out, but a force out ended the inning. Princeton got the first two runners on in the seventh, but a strikeout and two groundouts kept the Tigers off the board. Cinque finished with a three-hit shutout, walking four and fanning seven.
Princeton righthander Kristen Schaus (3-3) allowed eight hits and earned all four Hornet runs, striking out four and walking two.
After an off day Thursday, the Tigers open the three-day Stanford Invitational Friday at 1 p.m. PT against Illinois with UC Davis to follow at 5 p.m. PT.