Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Penn (Game 1)
Players Mentioned
Softball Drops Friday Pair to Penn
April 23, 2010 | Softball
PRINCETON -- Despite battling back, the Princeton softball team was never able to close the gap in either game Friday, losing 8-5 and 11-7 to Penn at Class of 1895 Field.
The losses drop Princeton to 10-28 overall and 4-10 in the Ivy League with six games to play. Penn (15-20, 9-5 Ivy) picked up a full game on idle Cornell, which will start its four-game series against Columbia Saturday. The Big Red lead the Ivy South by two games at present over Penn and seven over the Tigers.
Game 1: Penn 8, Princeton 5
The Quakers jumped on Tiger starter Liza Kuhn for four runs over the first two innings, and Penn stayed just ahead of the Tigers the whole way in an 8-5 final.
Princeton was able to cut it to 4-3 with three runs across the third and fourth innings, highlighted by a solo home run from Kelsey Quist, but Justine Payne answered for Penn in the top of the fifth with a round-tripper of her own. The Quakers added two more in the sixth before the Tigers got one back in the bottom half of that inning on a Collette Abbott RBI-single.
Each team scored a run in the seventh, and the total runs scored in the opener could have been much higher overall. The teams combined to leave 24 runners on base, with Penn stranding 10 in scoring position and Princeton five.
Game 2: Penn 11, Princeton 7
Three runs from Penn between the second and third innings put the Tigers in a hole, and again the Quakers never lost the lead despite Princeton putting up offense throughout the middle innings in an 11-7 Penn win.
As soon as Princeton was able to get one run back in the bottom of the third to make it a 3-1 game, Penn scored four in the top of the fourth to make it 7-1. Again, the Tigers rallied, pulling to within 7-6 after five innings with RBIs from five players. But the close game didn't last long, as Penn made it 11-6 in the top of the sixth, punctuated by Brooke Coloma's second home run of the nightcap.
Princeton got a solo shot from Abbott in the sixth but left it at the 11-7 final. The home run punctuated a 5-for-7 day at the plate for Abbott, who had four RBIs.
Princeton used both Kuhn and Jamie Lettire in the circle again in game two after splitting them in the first game, with Lettire getting the start in the nightcap.
Princeton and Penn will close their series with a doubleheader Saturday at '95 Field beginning at 12:30 a.m.