Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Penn (Game 1)
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Penn, Princeton Get Late Rallies to Split Sunday Softball Doubleheader
April 19, 2009 | Softball
PHILADELPHIA -- The quest to successfully defend their 2008 Ivy League title ended for the Princeton softball team Sunday after a pair of games in which late runs for each team made the difference in a twinbill split with Penn.
Princeton was a comeback winner in the opener 9-5 before Penn returned the favor in a 10-8 game two win.
Princeton (14-18, 8-8 Ivy) fell five games back of Cornell, which swept Columbia Sunday. That clinched the Ivy South for the Big Red, who will travel to Princeton for two games Friday before the same two teams play a pair in Ithaca next Sunday. While the Big Red have wrapped up the division, they'll still be playing to host the Ivy League Championship Series, which is played at the site of the division winner with the best record. Cornell leads Dartmouth by two games in that race.
Penn (12-25-1, 7-9) had a 5-2 after five innings in the opener, negating Kelsey Quist's fifth home run of the season, which came in the first inning for the Tigers. Princeton responded for five big runs in the sixth inning, with RBIs going to Megan Weidrick, Kristin Arguedas, Nicole Ontiveros and Collette Abbott, an inning before Weidrick and Erin Miller helped pad the lead with RBIs in the seventh.
The win lifted Jamie Lettire to 7-6 on the season, but staffmate Michelle Tolfa (7-11) was hurt by a seven-run sixth inning for Penn that erased what was a 6-3 Princeton lead.
Each team scored two runs in the second inning of the nightcap, with Princeton's RBIs going to Weidrick and Brianna Moreno. Princeton made it 6-2 on the strength of a three-run home run by Quist in the fifth, her second home run of the day and sixth of the season, and another RBI from Abbott.
Penn got one back in the bottom of the fifth but waited until the sixth to do their big damage, taking a 10-6 lead before Kathryn Welch and Quist had RBIs in the seventh to make the 10-8 final.
Princeton hit .388 from the plate in Sunday's doubleheader, led by 3-for-5 performances by Weidrick and Arguedas and a 3-for-7 day by Quist with six RBIs.
The Tigers will host Lehigh in their final non-league doubleheader of the season Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Class of 1895 Field two days before closing out the home schedule with Cornell.