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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Dartmouth (Game 1)
Players Mentioned
Princeton Softball Sweeps Dartmouth to Keep Pace in Ivy Race
April 08, 2007 | Softball
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Two very different games led to the same result for the Princeton softball team Sunday afternoon at Class of 1895 Field. After beating Dartmouth 6-1 in game one, the Tigers needed a four-run sixth to come back and sweep the twinbill, 5-3.
Princeton (15-20, 6-2 Ivy) remained one game behind Cornell and Penn in the Ivy South after both of those teams swept their Ivy North opponents Sunday. Columbia split with Yale to fall four back in the division.
Dartmouth (6-21, 2-6) stayed two games back of Harvard and tied with Yale in the Ivy North. Brown remained three games back as the South took seven of eight games from the North Sunday.
Game 1: Princeton 6, Dartmouth 1
Jamie Lettire (6-4) picked up the first of two wins by retiring 15 of 21 Dartmouth batters through the first five innings as the Tigers ran up a 6-0 lead.
Kathryn Welch, Princeton's leader in average and RBIs, converted singles by Stephanie Steel and Brianna Moreno with a double to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the third. The next batter, Collette Abbott, put down a bunt to get Welch home from third, building the lead to 3-0.
Kelsey Quist led off the fourth with a home run, and the following inning, Calli Jo Varner hit her first of two home runs on the day, cashing in an Abbott walk to give Princeton that six-run advantage.
Dartmouth's run came in the sixth when Katie Chifcian was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and one out to force in a run.
Lettire, a rookie, tied her season and career best with 11 strikeouts in the opener, giving up five hits and walking four. Her counterpart, Dartmouth's Stephanie Trudeau (4-11), gave up six hits and walked three, striking out two, while earning the six Princeton runs.
Game 2: Princeton 5, Dartmouth 3
Behind by two heading into the home half of the sixth, Princeton needed an unusual four-run inning to sweep the day and win, 5-3.
Calli Jo Varner led off the inning with a home run to cut the Dartmouth lead to 3-2 before the next two Tigers were put out. Beth Dalmut kept the inning alive with a single to left, taking second when Dartmouth leftfielder Christy Autin pushed the ball into foul territory trying to make the play. Dartmouth then opted to put Stephanie Steel on intentionally, and Brianna Moreno tied the game by sneaking a single inside the third base bag, scoring Dalmut from second.
That put runners at second and third for Kathryn Welch. On the first pitch she grounded to Dartmouth first baseman J.J. Wright, but Welch managed to get around Wright and keep the play going, allowing the leading runs to score.
Jamie Lettire, who entered in the fifth after Dartmouth went ahead 2-1, walked a pair in the seventh but held on for her second win of the day.
After stranding two Dartmouth runners in scoring position in the top of the first, Princeton scored its first run in the bottom half of the inning when Welch reached on a dropped infield pop-up and Jamie Lettire scored her two batters later with a single for a 1-0 lead.
Dartmouth tied the game in the third when Ashley Gleason sent a two-out double to the wall, scoring Nikki Yee, who walked just before her. Yee had the RBI two innings later when she doubled, scoring a one-out single by Kirsten Costello to put Dartmouth ahead 2-1.
Princeton starter Calli Jo Varner left after that play, giving up five hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings, striking out three. Lettire finished with two hits, two walks and a strikeout in 2 1/3 innings of work.
Dartmouth's Angela Megaw (2-7) allowed nine hits and two walks, striking out five while earning four of the five Princeton runs.
The Tigers will return to competition Wednesday to host Lehigh in a non-conference doubleheader at 3 p.m.