Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Penn (Game 1)
April 22, 2007 | Softball
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Penn homered its way to a 6-3 comeback win over the Princeton softball team in game one Sunday before the Tigers kept themselves alive for the Ivy League postseason with a 4-3 game two win.
The split leaves Princeton no room for error next weekend when it faces Cornell in a home-and-home series. Penn (14-6) leads Cornell (11-5) by one game and Princeton (10-6) by two. Princeton must win all four games next weekend to finish tied with Penn and force a one-game playoff. Cornell must win three to tie Penn and four to win the Ivy South outright.
Penn will be rooting for one of two combinations next weekend to win the division outright, including Princeton winning 3 of 4 or the teams splitting evenly.
In the Ivy North, Harvard and Dartmouth swept Brown and Yale respectively, keeping Harvard's one-game margin heading into a four-game series between the Crimson and Big Green next weekend.
Game 1: Penn 6, Princeton 3
All six of Penn's runs in the opener came home on round-trippers as Teresa Leyden's fifth-inning shot took the lead for the Quakers and Annie Kinsey iced the 6-3 win with her homer in the seventh.
Penn went ahead 2-0 when Stephanie Reichert picked up a Kinsey double in the first inning before Princeton starter Jamie Lettire settled in to allow only two baserunners from the second through fourth innings.
Meanwhile, Princeton closed the gap and took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Erin Miller led the second inning off with a single and took second when Penn's Leyden mishandled the ball in leftfield. Two batters later, Collette Abbott singled Miller home to cut the lead to 2-1.
Lettire's fifth home run of the year, a two-run shot that also brought home an Erin Miller single, gave Princeton the one-run lead.
But the advantage lasted only until Leyden's two-run shot with two out in the fifth, and Penn pitcher Emily Denstedt let the Tigers no further than second base over the last three innings as Kinsey's team-leading 10th home run made the final score in Penn's last at-bat.
Denstedt (12-7) scattered nine hits and earned two of the three Princeton runs, striking out four without a walk.
Lettire (8-7) worked the first 5 1/3 innings, leaving after a walk to Julia Cheney in the sixth. She allowed six hits and a pair of walks, striking out one while earning the four Penn runs on her watch.
Kristen Schaus threw the last 1 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits, striking out one.
Game 2: Princeton 4, Penn 3
A sixth-inning insurance run proved valuable after Melissa Haffner hit a solo home run in to lead off the seventh inning as Princeton held on for a 4-3 win.
Jamie Lettire's two-out single in the first inning scored Stephanie Steel as Princeton scored first in the opening inning.
After Teresa Leyden's two-out double that picked up a Kaelin Ainley single and an Annie Kinsey walk, Penn briefly re-took the lead at 2-1 in the top of the third.
But Kathryn Welch homered for the third time this year, all this week, scoring a Brianna Moreno single as Princeton went ahead 3-2.
The Tigers added to the lead by taking advantage of a fielding miscue in the bottom of the sixth. With Moreno on second and none out, Welch grounded back to Emily Denstedt in the circle, who started both games for Penn once again after doing so Saturday. Denstedt threw a bouncer to Julia Cheney at third to try to get Moreno. Cheney had the ball in her glove in time to get Moreno but couldn't hand on, allowing what would be the winning run to stand on third base.
Lettire picked up her second RBI of the game and fourth of the day when she immediately followed with a sacrifice fly to score Moreno.
The run held up after Haffner's home run to start the seventh cut the lead to one when Kristen Schaus got the next three batters to seal the win.
Schaus (9-12) picked up the complete-game win, allowing six hits and earning Penn's three runs while fanning five with two walks.
Denstedt (12-8) lasted five-plus innings, but was pulled after Welch's comebacker in the sixth. She allowed five hits while earning three of the four runs. Olivia Mauro silenced Princeton for the rest of the sixth.
Princeton's key series with Cornell will start Friday afternoon in Ithaca, N.Y., before coming to Princeton Sunday at 1 p.m.
