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Rookie's Walk-Off Hit Puts Softball over Georgetown, 8-7
March 06, 2009 | Softball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Freshman Nicole Ontiveros singled home the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to help the Princeton softball team to an 8-7 win Friday over Georgetown to open its weekend at North Carolina's tournament.
Princeton twice led and twice lost its lead before winning in extras to improve to 2-1 on the season. The Tigers will have three more games in North Carolina with two Saturday against Elon at 10 a.m. and Michigan State immediately following.
A two-run home run in the bottom of the first by Kathryn Welch, Princeton's second home run of the season, staked the Tigers to a 2-0 lead but Georgetown (1-9) got one back in each of the third and fourth innings to tie it.
When the Tigers exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth on the help of two-RBI hits by Welch and Brianna Moreno and another run brought in by Kelsey Quist, the 7-2 lead looked to be enough as long as Princeton could get six more outs. But instead, Georgetown had its own outburst of offense ready.
Led by a three-RBI double by Georgetown pitcher Mackensey Carter, the Hoyas tied it at 7-7 in the top of the sixth. The teams went scoreless in the seventh and played the eighth under the international tiebreaker rule, which places a runner on second base to start the inning.
Princeton pitcher Jamie Lettire (1-1), on in relief for the final 2 2/3 innings, got a sacrifice, a line-out and a strikeout to keep Georgetown's placed runner from scoring before Ontiveros got the big single in the bottom half of the eighth to score runner Lettire.