Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Brown (Game 1)
Players Mentioned
Softball Splits with Brown in Ivy Opener
April 02, 2011 | Softball
PRINCETON -- The Princeton softball team came from behind to beat Brown 5-4 in eight innings in the first game Saturday at the Class of 1895 Field, but the Bears took their turn to rally in the second game and win 8-4.
Both teams open the Ivy League season at 1-1, while Princeton is 9-13 overall and Brown is now 6-9-1. The Tigers will host Yale Sunday at 12:30 p.m., while the Bears will travel to Ithaca, N.Y. for two against Cornell Sunday.
Cornell swept Yale Saturday to lead the Ivy South division at 2-0, one game ahead of Princeton and two in front of Columbia, which was swept by Dartmouth, and Penn, which was swept by Harvard. The race to the Ivy League Championship Series in May is just beginning, with 18 more league games to go for all eight clubs.
The Tigers saw their 2-0 lead in the first game turn into a 4-2 deficit when Brown chipped away between the fifth and seventh innings to position themselves just three outs from a win. Stephanie Thompson provided the go-ahead runs with a two-run home run in the seventh. Thompson, who entered the day as the Ivy League's leading hitter at .553, saw her average improve to .574 with a 5-for-7 twinbill that included two home runs to improve her league-best total to 10.
Kelsey VandeBergh capitalized on two singles before her in the bottom of the seventh, driving home both with a ball that was twice mishandled in the field as Nicole Ontiveros and Candy Button hustled around to score and tie the game at 4-4.
Brown led off the top of the eighth with a double against starter Alex Peyton, but Liza Kuhn entered the circle in relief and got the next three batters in order to end the threat. The last of those included an impressive diving catch by VandeBergh in foul territory in front of Brown's third-base dugout.
Princeton had two of its first three batters single to start the bottom of the eighth, and Ontiveros provided the game-winning hit that drove home Sarah Rounsifer for the 5-4 win.
Kuhn picked up the victory with her inning of relief work, while Kristie Chin (4-5), who also entered the second game in relief, went the full 7 1/3 innings in the loss.
Seven Brown runs over the fifth and sixth innings were the difference in the Bears' come-from-behind victory in the nightcap.
Princeton took a 3-1 lead into the top of the fifth, but Brown scored four runs in the frame, including a two-run shot off the pole down the left field line from Kate Strobel, to take a 5-3 lead.
The Bears turned that into an 8-3 advantage with Thompson's second home run of the day, a three-run shot. Princeton managed an Ontiveros solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to make the 8-4 final.
Trish Melvin (2-3) picked up the win in the circle for Brown, while Kuhn fell to 4-2 on the season for Princeton with her five innings of relief work.