Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Softball Sweeps Dartmouth to Earn Seventh NCAA Bid, 16th Ivy Title
April 24, 2006 | Softball
April 24, 2006
Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box
HANOVER, N.H. - On a gloomy Monday at Dartmouth's Sachem Field, all the Princeton softball team felt was warm sunshine. The Tigers clinched their 16th Ivy League title and seventh NCAA Championship bid with 2-1 and 5-0 wins over the Big Green, finishing the league season with a 12-2 record and becoming the first team in the NCAA's 2006 field of 64.
Princeton entered the day with a two-game lead over Cornell, which has two games in hand on the Tigers. Even with Cornell's sweep of Yale Monday, Princeton's pair of wins meant that Cornell would get no closer than one game back in the standings when the Big Red's league season completes next Saturday.
The 12-2 league mark is the second-highest total in the six years that the Ivy has had eight softball teams. Princeton rolled to a 13-1 record in 2002 and achieved 12 conference wins last season. Dartmouth dropped to 12-22 overall and 5-7 in Ivy play, while the Tigers improved to 26-15 overall.
Head coach Maureen Barron became the first Tiger mentor to lead the program to four NCAA Championship appearances. A 1997 Princeton graduate, Barron has been part of all seven NCAA bids including three as a player under longtime head coach Cindy Cohen from 1994-96. Barron took the team back to the national tournament in her second season in 2002, returning in 2003 and 2005.
The clinching victories came in the same way as the wins that led to this point. Erin Snyder (13-4) and Kristen Schaus (12-8) carried a combined 1.45 ERA into the game and were even better than that, allowing one run in 18 innings. Princeton, hitting a solid .276 on the year as a team, got plenty of hits, 21 in all, and pushed across enough to win both. GAME ONE
Missed opportunities marked the early innings of game one for Princeton. The Tigers got a runner to second base with one out and stranded her before loading the bases with one out in the second and leaving all of those runners as well.
Dartmouth scored its run in the bottom of the second with Alicia Petryk's one-out, two-strike home run to straightaway centerfield dropping just beyond the fence.
After leaving one at second base in the third and two more in scoring position in the fifth, Princeton converted in the sixth to tie the game with the help of a Dartmouth miscue. Beth Dalmut snuck a double down the line to lead off the frame, moved to third on a sacrifice and came home on a passed ball.
Princeton struck again in the top of the seventh. With the bases loaded and two out after a single and two walks, Jackie Araneo laced a full-count single through the left side. Tiffany Andras, pinch-running for Snyder at second, got home just ahead of the throw and Princeton was three outs away from getting one win closer to the Ivy crown.
Snyder got those three outs in the bottom of the seventh, capping another solid outing. She allowed three hits including the home run, striking out nine. Her streak without a walk ended, however, at 47 2/3 innings with a fifth-inning free pass, her only one of the game. Aside from the home run, no Dartmouth runner got past first base.
Angela Megaw (3-12) allowed 10 hits, earning one of the two Princeton runs, walking two and striking out four. Of Princeton's 11 runners left on, eight were stranded in scoring position. Amanda Erickson led the Tigers at the plate with a 3 for 4 day while Dalmut and Kathryn Welch were each 2 for 4.
GAME TWO
More missed opportunities plagued the Tigers early on in game one as Princeton left a runner at third in the first inning and two more in scoring position in the second. In the fifth, Princeton had the bases loaded and two out, stranding all three with a groundout.
Meanwhile, the Tigers were able to miss those opportunities without falling behind thanks to a stellar effort in the circle from Schaus. After Dartmouth's first batter got to second base, no Big Green hitter reached that point again until the fifth. A leadoff walk and a failed attempt to get the lead runner on a sacrifice led to the first two batters in that inning getting on. After a strikeout and a groundout, Dartmouth had runners at second and third. Number nine hitter Denise Hasson worked Schaus to a full count before sending a liner to center that Stephanie Steel caught up with, ending the inning.
The scare in the bottom of the fifth seemed to make Princeton's bats come alive in the sixth. Erickson led off with a two-strike single to left and Dalmut hit the first pitch to her to center, giving Princeton two runners on with none out. Araneo provided another clutch hit, sending a single through the right side that moved both runners up two bases and gave Princeton a 1-0 lead. Three batters later, Cristina Cobb-Adams hit a two-out double to the wall in left-center, giving Schaus a three-run cushion with which to get six outs.
The Tigers added two in the seventh. A walk and four straight singles led to the runs with Araneo and Calli Jo Varner picking up RBI. Dartmouth starter Stephanie Trudeau (7-7) allowed 11 hits, earning all five runs with six walks and two strikeouts.
Schaus finished with one hit, the leadoff single in the first, with six walks and six strikeouts. Erickson, who was 4 for 6 on the day, and Dalmut had two hits apiece and Araneo was 3 for 3 with two RBI.
Princeton's league season may be over, but its schedule is far from complete. The Tigers have four non-conference doubleheaders, starting Thursday at Villanova, before the NCAA tournament begins the third weekend in May. Princeton will learn of its postseason destination Sunday, May 14 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPNews.