PRINCETON ? Jamie Lettire's three-run home run in the first
inning of Wednesday's opener against Rutgers
was the first of four round-trippers on the day at Class of 1895 Field. Unfortunately
for the Princeton softball team, the other three came off Rutgers
bats in a 9-5, 7-2 sweep for the Scarlet Knights.
The losses snap an eight-game winning streak for the Tigers,
all of which came in Ivy League games. Princeton will return to Ivy play
Saturday and Sunday at Columbia
with a one-game lead over Cornell in the Ivy South standings. Cornell swept Dartmouth Wednesday in a makeup doubleheader to shrink the
gap on the Orange
and Black.
“Win or lose, these midweek games are excellent practice for
what we will face when we return to Ivy League play this weekend,” Princeton coach Trina Salcido said following the first of
three such non-league twinbills during the Ivy season.
Game 1: Rutgers 9, Princeton
5
Lettire's left-field launch gave the Tigers an early
four-run cushion, but Princeton could not
overcome Kaitlyn Valiante's seven RBI in a 9-5 loss.
Sarah Kalka hit a second-inning home run off Princeton
starter Kristen Schaus to pull the Scarlet Knights within 4-1, and Valiante
followed in the third with a grand slam that excused Schaus from the game and
put Rutgers ahead 5-4.
Rutgers added another run in the third to make it 6-4
against reliever Michelle Tolfa, but Princeton
cut it to 6-5 when a Lettire groundout picked up Kathryn Welch in the fifth.
That was as close as Princeton
got. Valiante struck again, hitting a three-run home run in the sixth to make
it 9-5.
Game 2: Rutgers 7, Princeton
2
The visiting Scarlet Knight's didn't wait for a comeback
effort in game two. Rutgers benefitted from two walks and two hits in the first
to take a 3-0 lead, and though Princeton was able to get one back on a Welch
sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning, the Tigers never threatened
again to split the doubleheader.
Rutgers added another run each in the third and fourth along
with two more in the fifth to take a 7-1 lead, and Princeton
managed only a groundout RBI in the sixth by Collette Abbott the rest of the
way.
Rutgers did its damage in
game two again at the expense of Schaus (4-13) for the first inning and Lettire
for the final six.
Princeton's doubleheaders on the northern tip of Manhattan will begin at
12:30 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
