AMHERST, Mass. -- A two-run home run in the bottom of the first gave host
Massachusetts all it would need in a 6-0 win over Princeton at the NCAA Amherst
Regional Saturday morning.
The Tigers (25-23) will face Lehigh (38-16-1) Saturday at
2:30 for a chance to stay alive in the postseason. The winner faces Massachusetts at 5 p.m. for the right to play Stanford Sunday for the regional title.
Princeton and Lehigh have
met annually in recent seasons, including a postseason win by the Tigers at the
Tucson Regional in 2005.
Kristen Schaus (10-16) allowed seven hits and struck out
four without a walk, but counterpart Brandice Balschmiter (29-6) outdid the Princeton
senior, no-hitting the Tigers through six innings before being excused. A
seventh-inning comebacker by Collette Abbott to UMass reliever Bailey Sanders
was Princeton's first and only hit.
The game was originally due to begin at 5 p.m. Friday, but
the threat of rain moved the start up to 3:30. The rains came anyway, and after
a full Princeton at-bat, the game was
suspended in a downpour.
UMass' Whitney Mollica took advantage of a hit leadoff
batter by Schaus during the brief portion played Friday with a one-out home run
in the first to give the Minutewomen (40-11) a 2-0 lead.
Two innings later, a pair of singles helped UMass add
another run. In the fifth, the Minutewomen pushed the lead to 6-0 on three hits
and a sacrifice fly.
