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Cornell Home-and-Home to Decide Ivy South Title; Alumnae Day Sunday
April 24, 2008 | Softball
PRINCETON ? In softball's Ivy South division, a 15-1 league record isn't quite good enough to have wrapped up a division title with only four games left. Not when both Princeton and Cornell have taken their toll on the rest of the Ivy League.
The Tigers and Big Red will have what is essentially a best-of-five series to determine the Ivy South champion. Either Princeton or Cornell will host Harvard, the Ivy North champion, the following weekend for the Ivy League title and NCAA tournament berth.
Cornell will host the first two, a 12:30 p.m. doubleheader Friday. Princeton will host Sunday's doubleheader, also at 12:30. Regardless of what happens Friday, the division title won't be decided any sooner than midway through Sunday's doubleheader.
Sunday is also Alumnae Day and Senior Day for the Princeton softball program at Class of 1895 Field. Light food and refreshments will be available for returning Princeton softball players beginning at 11 a.m., and Class of 2008 members Kristen Schaus and Beth Dalmut will be honored prior to the game.
Should the teams split the four-game series, Princeton will host a fifth game on Monday, also at 12:30 p.m. The Tigers were designated host because of their 2-0 record against Harvard, the team with the next-best record in the league, while the Big Red split their doubleheader with the Crimson earlier this month.
Taking three games from Cornell won't be an easy task for the Orange and Black. Cornell takes a 35-7 record into Wednesday's doubleheader against crosstown Ithaca College, and ace pitcher Jenn Meunier is 18-1 with a 1.78 ERA. The Big Red are also hitting .344 as a team with four players over .400.
Tiger Notes...
Series history: Princeton holds a 22-11 advantage in a series that began in earnest in 1994, when Cornell began varsity softball, following three early meetings in the 1980s. Princeton won the first eight games from 1994-97, but over the last decade the teams have split 22 meetings.
The 2007 meeting: Princeton and Cornell split at both sites in the first year of the expanded 20-game Ivy League schedule. The Tigers needed to win all four games last year to advance to an Ivy playoff with Penn and edge the Quakers for the Ivy South title, but a fantastic comeback fell just short in game two in Ithaca. Princeton entered the sixth inning down 9-4, scored six runs to take a 10-9 lead, but saw Cornell score three in the bottom of the sixth to re-take the lead and win 12-10.
Movin' on up: Some Tigers have raised their batting averages considerably over the last few weeks. Among them:
? Collette Abbott has 13 hits in her last 10 games, raising her average nearly 50 points to .283.
? Beth Dalmut has a five-game hitting streak that has raised her average nearly 20 points to .281.
? Jamie Lettire is 6 for 12 with five RBIs and a home run over the last four games, bumping her average 14 points to .365.
Two-fer: Erin Miller had a two-hit game in the fourth game against Penn, her first multi-hit game since March 9.
Down, down, down: While batting averages are going up, Michelle Tolfa has seen her earned-run average go down. Rookie Tolfa has seen her ERA drop every outing this month, from 5.84 after the Harvard doubleheader to 3.51 at present. Tolfa has allowed only three runs in her last 23 2/3 innings.
Let it fly: The Ivy League's top five home run hitters on the season will meet this weekend. Cornell's Elise Menaker holds the lead with 12, followed by Princeton's Kelsey Quist with 11, Jamie Lettire and Kathryn Welch with 10 apiece, and Cornell's Jenna Campagnolo with nine.
Silver slugger: There's no silver bat at stake as in Major League Baseball, but if there were, Jamie Lettire has the inside track. Lettire is hitting .491 in Ivy League games, and the next six other sluggers will also be on the field this weekend. Four are from Cornell and two, Kathryn Welch and Kelsey Quist, are Princeton batsmen.
Kat the Bat: Kathryn Welch is the Ivy leader in home runs with eight, runs scored with 20 and total bases with 51.
More sluggin': The three top Ivy League slugging percentages belong to Princeton batters. Kelsey Quist leads at 1.023 with Kathryn Welch close behind at .981 and Jamie Lettire at .887.
Go Irish: Cornell rookie pitcher Ali Tomlinson, a Mercer County native from Hamilton, N.J., shares a high school alma mater with Princeton assistant coach Alexis Alcantara. Both went to Notre Dame High in Lawrenceville, N.J.
The Tigers and Big Red will have what is essentially a best-of-five series to determine the Ivy South champion. Either Princeton or Cornell will host Harvard, the Ivy North champion, the following weekend for the Ivy League title and NCAA tournament berth.
Cornell will host the first two, a 12:30 p.m. doubleheader Friday. Princeton will host Sunday's doubleheader, also at 12:30. Regardless of what happens Friday, the division title won't be decided any sooner than midway through Sunday's doubleheader.
Sunday is also Alumnae Day and Senior Day for the Princeton softball program at Class of 1895 Field. Light food and refreshments will be available for returning Princeton softball players beginning at 11 a.m., and Class of 2008 members Kristen Schaus and Beth Dalmut will be honored prior to the game.
Should the teams split the four-game series, Princeton will host a fifth game on Monday, also at 12:30 p.m. The Tigers were designated host because of their 2-0 record against Harvard, the team with the next-best record in the league, while the Big Red split their doubleheader with the Crimson earlier this month.
Taking three games from Cornell won't be an easy task for the Orange and Black. Cornell takes a 35-7 record into Wednesday's doubleheader against crosstown Ithaca College, and ace pitcher Jenn Meunier is 18-1 with a 1.78 ERA. The Big Red are also hitting .344 as a team with four players over .400.
Tiger Notes...
Series history: Princeton holds a 22-11 advantage in a series that began in earnest in 1994, when Cornell began varsity softball, following three early meetings in the 1980s. Princeton won the first eight games from 1994-97, but over the last decade the teams have split 22 meetings.
The 2007 meeting: Princeton and Cornell split at both sites in the first year of the expanded 20-game Ivy League schedule. The Tigers needed to win all four games last year to advance to an Ivy playoff with Penn and edge the Quakers for the Ivy South title, but a fantastic comeback fell just short in game two in Ithaca. Princeton entered the sixth inning down 9-4, scored six runs to take a 10-9 lead, but saw Cornell score three in the bottom of the sixth to re-take the lead and win 12-10.
Movin' on up: Some Tigers have raised their batting averages considerably over the last few weeks. Among them:
? Collette Abbott has 13 hits in her last 10 games, raising her average nearly 50 points to .283.
? Beth Dalmut has a five-game hitting streak that has raised her average nearly 20 points to .281.
? Jamie Lettire is 6 for 12 with five RBIs and a home run over the last four games, bumping her average 14 points to .365.
Two-fer: Erin Miller had a two-hit game in the fourth game against Penn, her first multi-hit game since March 9.
Down, down, down: While batting averages are going up, Michelle Tolfa has seen her earned-run average go down. Rookie Tolfa has seen her ERA drop every outing this month, from 5.84 after the Harvard doubleheader to 3.51 at present. Tolfa has allowed only three runs in her last 23 2/3 innings.
Let it fly: The Ivy League's top five home run hitters on the season will meet this weekend. Cornell's Elise Menaker holds the lead with 12, followed by Princeton's Kelsey Quist with 11, Jamie Lettire and Kathryn Welch with 10 apiece, and Cornell's Jenna Campagnolo with nine.
Silver slugger: There's no silver bat at stake as in Major League Baseball, but if there were, Jamie Lettire has the inside track. Lettire is hitting .491 in Ivy League games, and the next six other sluggers will also be on the field this weekend. Four are from Cornell and two, Kathryn Welch and Kelsey Quist, are Princeton batsmen.
Kat the Bat: Kathryn Welch is the Ivy leader in home runs with eight, runs scored with 20 and total bases with 51.
More sluggin': The three top Ivy League slugging percentages belong to Princeton batters. Kelsey Quist leads at 1.023 with Kathryn Welch close behind at .981 and Jamie Lettire at .887.
Go Irish: Cornell rookie pitcher Ali Tomlinson, a Mercer County native from Hamilton, N.J., shares a high school alma mater with Princeton assistant coach Alexis Alcantara. Both went to Notre Dame High in Lawrenceville, N.J.
Monday, May 11
Saturday, May 09
Friday, May 08
Thursday, May 07