Princeton University Athletics
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Softball to Open Divisional Play at '95 Field This Weekend vs. Columbia
April 09, 2015 | Softball
Opening Ivy South divisional play, the Princeton softball team will host Columbia Saturday and Sunday at Class of 1895 Field for a pair of 12:30 p.m. doubleheaders.
Each day will also have special events, with Saturday as the Purple Game for Epilepsy and SUDEP Awareness as well as Youth Softball Day, and Sunday as Princeton's senior recognition and Faculty/Staff Day. The Tigers will graduate six seniors from this year's team, including Meredith Brown, Libby Crowe, Sarah McGowan, Rachel Rendina, Alyssa Schmidt and Cara Worden.
Fans are encouraged to wear purple for Saturday's games, which will honor the memory of Khristin Kyllo, a member of the softball Class of 2014 who passed away in January 2011. As part of Youth Softball Day, kids will be able to get autographs from Princeton players after the doubleheader and their teams will have their names announced between games. Sunday's senior recognition will begin at noon.
As they all are, the weekend will be pivotal as Columbia leads the Ivy South at 5-3, one game ahead of Penn (4-4), two ahead of Princeton (2-4) and three in front of Cornell (2-6). The Tigers have played fewer Ivy games than the rest of the division since the March 27 twinbill against Yale was moved to April 22.
Junior Shanna Christian (2-5) holds the lowest ERA on the Tigers' staff at 2.67 and has thrown the second-most innings at 42. Freshman Ashley LaGuardia (4-9) has thrown 72 of the team's 177 frames and has a 3.39 ERA. At the plate, senior Alyssa Schmidt is the top Tiger, with a .290 average.
The Lions have won seven of eight, beginning that run with a weekend sweep of Brown and Yale before taking three of four in midweek games against Manhattan and Fairleigh Dickinson to stand at 11-17 overall. Kerry Cook leads Columbia at the plate, hitting .341, while Tonia Wu (5-8) leads the team in ERA (2.23) and innings pitched (84.2).
Princeton took three of four last year in New York with Shanna Christian and Erica Nori splitting the starts for the Tigers. Tessa Kroll and Kayla Maloney are the only Lions back who started games in last year's series, with each starting a game in the second doubleheader and Princeton winning both.
A look at the Tigers and the Lions is below.
 Princeton |
Princeton vs. Columbia |
 Columbia |
| 10-18, 2-4 Ivy | Record |
11-17, 5-3 Ivy |
| .225 | Team BA | .229 |
| .272 | Opponent BA | .287 |
| 3.49 | Team ERA | 3.17 |
| 2.62 | Opponent ERA | 2.56 |
| 31 | All-Time Wins in Series | 13 |