Softball Team Sweeps Harvard to Stay Atop Ivy South

Sunday, April 9

Cambridge, Mass.

12:30 PM

Princeton University

12-13, 0

Harvard

11-13, 0

Princeton

Harvard

Kaylee Grant had four RBI in the opener for the Tigers Sunday.

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Softball Team Sweeps Harvard to Stay Atop Ivy South

April 09, 2017 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Rebounding from Saturday's twinbill sweep at Dartmouth, the Princeton softball team took two games at Harvard Sunday, defeating the Crimson 10-2 in six innings and 6-2 in the nightcap for the team's first road sweep of Harvard since 1995.

With the weekend in the books, Princeton stands atop the Ivy South at 6-2, but just one game ahead of Columbia and Penn. Dartmouth leads the Ivy North at 5-3, but also with a one-game margin over Yale. Brown and Harvard are two back at 3-5.

In the opener, Princeton picked up its first run-rule win over Harvard since 2005, starting right away with Allison Harvey doubling home a Megan Donahey single and Kaylee Grant hitting a two-run home run to put Princeton up 3-0 in the first.

Harvard got one back on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first, but the Tigers got that back on a Grant single in the third that brought home a Mikayla Blaska single to make it 4-1. Keeley Walsh brought home an Alex Viscusi double with a groundout in the fourth, and three walks, a wild pitch and an Alex Viscusi RBI single in the fifth helped push the lead to 7-1.

Princeton pushed the game to run-rule territory in the sixth, starting the inning with a Walsh double and a Donahey single. Blaska brought home Joey Smith, running for Walsh, with a ground ball and Harvey did the same with Donahey to make it 9-1. Grant picked up her career-best fourth RBI of the game with a double to pick up a Marissa Reynolds walk to make it 10-1.

Though Harvard got one back in the bottom of the sixth, Claire Klausner left the bases loaded to preserve the run-rule win, giving up the two runs on five hits and a walk. Taylor Cabe took the loss for the Crimson.

In game two, Blaska had the third single of the third inning to drive home a run before Harvey doubled home two more for a 3-0 lead. Harvard, though, got one back each in the third and fourth and left the bases loaded in the fifth as Princeton maintained a 3-2 lead.

The Tigers pushed that lead to 6-2 in the sixth, with a Walsh double picking up singles from Grant and Viscusi before Donahey singled home Walsh. Riley Wilkinson, who came on for the fifth and got out of the bases-loaded jam in that inning, retired all but one of the batters she faced between the sixth and the seventh to save the win for Erica Nori. Kathleen Duncan took the loss for Harvard.

Princeton will have just one day away from competition before heading to Monmouth for a single game Tuesday at 4 p.m. before returning to Ivy play Saturday and Sunday at Penn.