PRINCETON ? Class of 1895 Field has been the home of Princeton softball for 24 seasons. It's unlikely that the
park has seen a doubleheader as improbable and exciting as it saw Sunday.
With 12-11 and 6-5 wins, the Princeton softball team swept
Cornell to clinch an Ivy South title and gain a berth in the Ivy League
Championship Series next weekend, also at '95 Field, against Harvard.
"It's a little speechless for me, and I'm rarely speechless. I'm amazed," Princeton head coach Trina Salcido said. "That might be the best game I've ever been a part of as far as comebacks, as far as perseverance. Sometimes teams run out of gas, sometimes they just don't have anymore, but to put together that six-run inning is just phenomenal."
Princeton homered six times
in the doubleheader and needed all six to defeat a dangerous Cornell team with
plenty of home run power of its own. The Big Red hit three home runs Sunday,
two in game one to pile up a six-run lead and the third in game two to close a
two-run Princeton advantage.
The Tigers have hit 51 home runs this season, shattering
their record of 38 from 2005. Jamie Lettire, who had the go-ahead home run in
game one and game-winning blast in game two, and Kathryn Welch, who had three
homers Sunday, each moved even with Kelsey Quist to co-lead the team with 13.
"We were not down at all. We knew we could do it," Lettire said. "Against Cornell, we've had high-scoring games, so we felt that it was just a matter of time. It was amazing. It was unreal. It was truly unreal."
Game 1: Princeton 12,
Cornell 11
Princeton battled back from
deficits of six runs and five runs for an incredible 12-11 comeback victory in
the opener to move within one win of clinching the Ivy South division.
Cornell piled on early to take a 7-1 lead after three
at-bats, but the Tigers had clutch hits in store.
Welch hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third and
Megan Weidrick, who had been hit by pitches her first two times up, returned
the favor by crushing a three-run home run in the fourth that pulled Princeton
within 7-6.
But the Big Red, who entered the week with the
second-highest batting average in Division I, again got to Princeton
starter Kristen Schaus (9-15) for four runs on three hits and two walks in the
top of the fifth.
One at bat after it chopped five runs off a six-run deficit,
the Tigers were again deep in a hole. But the team's biggest comeback was still
ahead.
With one out in the sixth, Princeton
batters loaded the bases with two singles and a walk. Welch, who jump-started
the first comeback with her two-run home run in the third, again proved able by
hitting a grand slam that pulled Princeton
within 11-10.
Quist followed with a single that excused Cornell starter and
Princeton-area native Ali Tomlinson from the game, and Lettire greeted reliever
Elizabeth Dalrymple with a two-run, go-ahead home run.
Now holding tight to a 12-11 lead, Schaus needed to get
three outs on a Cornell team that scored runs against her in four of the first
five innings. The first two Big Red batters made deep fly-ball outs before a
walk put the tying run on first. Schaus got one last flyout, and the improbable
comeback was complete.
Game 2: Princeton 6,
Cornell 5
Even with the momentum gained from a comeback like the
Tigers enjoyed in game one, Princeton needed still more excitement to get the
division-clinching win over a resilient Cornell team.
The Big Red scored a pair of two-out runs in the second
inning off Lettire (7-3) before Princeton
responded in its next at-bat. Using five runs and a hit batter, the Tigers
pulled ahead 4-2 against Cornell's Jenn Meunier (19-3), who took just her
second loss of the season against Princeton
Friday.
Cornell's ninth hitter, Vanessa Leonhard, tied it in the top
of the fourth with a two-out, two-run home run and the Big Red added another in
the fifth to pull ahead.
That set the stage for a seventh-inning comeback for the
Tigers, who had hit Meunier since the four-run second inning but hadn't broken
through.
Welch led off with a crushed home run to centerfield and
Lettire, two batters later, powered the division-clinching home run to
left-center.
Princeton finishes the regular season with a 23-22 record overall and 18-2 in the Ivy League. The 18 wins are a record for an Ivy League softball team, with the Ivy in just its second year of the expanded 20-game, two-division schedule.
