Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Softball Sweeps Villanova to Start Pre-NCAA Stretch
April 27, 2006 | Softball
April 27, 2006
Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box
VILLANOVA, Pa. - Another day, another dominating performance from Princeton senior Erin Snyder. The righthander allowed just two hits, authoring her seventh shutout of the season in a 1-0 Tiger win at Villanova (13-34) Thursday afternoon. In the second game, Princeton (28-15) jumped on the Wildcats early, winning 9-1 in five innings. Senior Amanda Erickson continued her hot streak, going 4 for 6 on the day.
GAME ONE
Snyder (14-4) took a perfect game into the fourth inning, but a 2-2 pitch to leadoff batter Cassie Koenig turned inside and grazed Koenig across the middle, sending her to first base. The runner was of no matter to Snyder, who set down the next three batters to get out of the inning.
The Tigers got a runner on in each of the first four innings, moving that runner to third twice, but were unable to convert. Villanova starter Laura Determan (4-13) wasn't overpowering, striking out just three with no walks, but Villanova's defense was as flawless as could be asked. Determan scattered seven hits.
The scoreless drought ended in the sixth when Kathryn Welch hit the first pitch she saw to straightaway center, just beyond the fence 220 feet away. The one-out shot was the team-best sixth home run for the suburban Philadelphia native.
Snyder lost her no-hitter in the fifth when Greta Holmgren hit a grounder to Cristina Cobb-Adams at short that was just slow enough to beat out a strong throw across. Villanova got a ball to the outfield for the first time in the sixth inning when a grounder by Koenig snuck under Jackie Araneo's glove at third and two batters later, Meghan Morese lined one through the left side with two out. Snyder responded with a strikeout and Villanova's best chance went for naught. With 12 strikeouts and no walks, Snyder bettered her Ks-per-seven average of 11.8 and upped her strikeout-to-walk ratio to 32:1, both among the best in the nation. GAME TWO
Princeton wasted no time scoring in Thursday's second game. After a walk, a single and a hit batter, Snyder came up with the bases loaded and two out. She dropped a full-count pitch into right center, scoring two. Cobb-Adams gave Princeton a 5-0 lead in the second when she cashed in Larkin Brogan's walk and Stephanie Steel's double with a one-out rocket off the scoreboard in left, her third home run of the season. That chased Villanova starter Kat Walsh (9-15) from the game after allowing four hits and two walks with a strikeout, earning all five runs.
Megan Hord entered in the circle for Villanova and despite loading the bases with one out, got a strikeout and groundout to prevent Princeton from possibly invoking the eight-run rule. But after a quiet third, Princeton got the leadoff batter, Brianna Moreno, on with a single in the fourth. Erickson followed by doubling her home and Princeton took a 6-0 lead. Two batters later, Snyder lifted one to right and Villanova second baseman Jackie Dempsey caught the ball only to drop it when she was run into by right-fielder Holmgren, allowing Erickson to score and put the Tigers ahead 7-0.
Princeton did invoke the run-rule in the fifth. With runners on second and third and two out, Moreno slapped the ball in front of Hord who fired wide of first, allowing both runs to score for a 9-0 lead. Hord finished with four hits and four runs, one earned, with four walks and three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings of work.
Kristen Schaus (13-8) achieved a rare four-strikeout inning in the second. She fanned leadoff hitter Holmgren, but the ball got through the legs of catcher Larkin Brogan and went to the backstop, allowing Holmgren to reach. After a single, Schaus struck out the next three batters. The non-out strikeout was Schaus' 200th of the season, making her one of only two pitchers in school history to strike out 200 batters twice in her career. Lisa Moore '94 was the other, doing so in 1991 and 1992. Snyder, with a school-record 225 last year, narrowly missed that club with 199 as a freshman but will likely join it soon with 193 Ks so far in 2006.
Schaus allowed six hits and Villanova's only run in the fifth, a solo home run to Koenig, striking out five without a walk.
The Tigers will honor their four seniors, Snyder, Erickson, Cobb-Adams and Lindsay Motal, prior to the 1 p.m. home finale Saturday against St. John's. Princeton heads back to Philadelphia Sunday to face St. Joseph's.