Princeton University Athletics
Softball Sweeps Columbia to Move to 8-0 in Ivy Play
April 15, 2006 | Softball
April 15, 2006
Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box
PRINCETON, N.J. - The Princeton softball team (22-11, 8-0 Ivy) continued its run through the Ivy League with a doubleheader sweep of Columbia (18-21-1, 1-5) Saturday at Class of 1895 Field. Erin Snyder (11-3) picked up her seventh straight win and Kristen Schaus (10-6) provided another solid effort in the second game to keep the Tigers undefeated.
GAME ONE
Princeton took advantage of two walks in the first inning when Amanda Erickson homered to left to put the Tigers up 3-0. Off the bat, Erickson's ball looked like it might be a routine fly, but instead it carried and curved, dropping just over the wall and inside the foul pole for her third homer of 2006.
Columbia mounted its first real threat in the fifth. The Lions had runners on second and third and one out thanks to a double that dropped into left and a bunt that Erickson couldn't pick up down the first base line. One run came in when Maiya Chard-Yaron legged out an infield single and the second scored when Kim Krisman slid in ahead of the throw on Lexie Costic's bunt, bringing the Lions to within a run at 3-2, still with one out before Snyder struck out the next two batters. The runs ended Snyder's scoreless streak at 25 innings and were the first runs she allowed at home this season in five outings.
After the Erickson home run, Columbia starter Jackie Adelfio (13-10) settled down, not allowing a Princeton runner past second base until the fifth. In that frame, Cristina Cobb-Adams led off the inning with a double and Stephanie Steel beat out a sacrifice to give the Tigers two runners on base with none out. Both runners moved up a base on a Kathryn Welch sacrifice, but the threat to pad the lead was snuffed out when Cobb-Adams was picked off third after the pitch and Steel faced the same fate on second, ending the inning. Adelfio finished with three runs, all earned, on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Snyder (11-3) continued her strong pitching despite giving up her first runs since Mar. 30. She scattered five hits, striking out 11 and walking none, continuing a 28 2/3-inning streak without a walk.
GAME TWO
Another first-inning home run gave the Tigers an edge. This time it was Welch who crushed one to left for her team-high fourth of the season. With Cobb-Adams on second after her leadoff hit, it gave Princeton a 2-0 lead.
Calli Jo Varner led off the second with a shot to straight-away center, her third of the season. That chased Adelfio (13-11), the first game's starter as well, from the nightcap after allowing three runs, all earned, on three hits without a strikeout or a walk.
Chard-Yaron relieved in the circle but gave up a run in the third that increased Princeton's lead to 4-0. After back-to-back two-out singles, Varner cashed in Erickson from second. Two more came across in the fourth when four of the first five batters singled with Welch and Snyder each picking up an RBI to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.
After Columbia got runners to second and third in the first inning, Schaus sat 13 of the next 15 batters before the Lions broke through in the sixth. Costic struck out but reached as the third-strike pitch got away from catcher Samantha O'Hara. Keli Leong was hit by a pitch, and after both moved up on a groundout, Kacy Krisman singled both home and Princeton had a 6-2 lead.
Chard-Yaron finished with 10 hits in five innings, earning all five runs she gave up with three walks and no strikeouts. Schaus struck out three with a walk, earning both Columbia runs.
Welch picked up her fourth RBI of the game in the sixth inning, converting Beth Dalmut's leadoff single and Snyder brought Welch home by doubling to the wall in center, giving Princeton an 8-2 advantage. Welch was 3 for 4 in game two while Snyder, Varner and Dalmut all had two hits.
The Tigers host Cornell Sunday at 1 p.m. The Big Red entered the day two games back of Princeton in second place.