Princeton University
Florida State
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Softball Team to Open NCAA Tournament Friday at No. 4 Florida State on ESPNU
May 16, 2017 | Softball
No. 4 Florida State will host the Princeton softball team in Friday's NCAA tournament opener at JoAnne Graf Field in Tallahassee, Fla.
This is the 10th NCAA tournament for Princeton and follow's last year's trip to James Madison for the program's first back-to-back NCAAs since 2005 and 2006. All the games will be on the ESPN family of networks, with Friday's game on ESPNU for the first national television broadcast in program history.
Friday, May 19
Game 1: Georgia vs. Jacksonville State, 4:30 p.m. (All times ET)
Game 2: Florida State vs. Princeton, 7 p.m. TV: ESPNU/ESPN3 | Tickets | Live Stats
Saturday, May 20
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 at 12 p.m.
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 at 2:30 p.m.
Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 at 5 p.m.
Sunday, May 21
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 at 12 p.m.
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 at 2:30 p.m. (if necessary)
FSU will be the highest-ranked team Princeton has faced since an 8-0 loss to No. 2 California on March 20, 2012. The Seminoles are 10-0 all-time against Princeton, but all those meetings occurred between 1990 and 2013. FSU enters the regional at 51-6-1 after rolling through the ACC at a perfect 24-0 and capturing the ACC tournament title. The team ranks in the top 10 in the nation in batting average (seventh, .334), ERA (eighth, 1.41), on-base percentage (third, .433), runs per game (sixth, 6.88), slugging percentage (fifth, .547), triples per game (sixth, 0.40), and winning percentage (.888). Junior Jessica Warren's second in the nation in total bases (152), third in home runs (21), fourth in slugging percentage (.938), and sixth in home runs per game (0.36). In the circle, redshirt senior Jessica Burroughs is 25-4 with a 1.14 ERA and redshirt sophomore Meghan King, who was a high school teammate of Princeton senior Erica Nori at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is 25-2 with a 1.41 ERA.
Nori, the only Floridian on Princeton's roster, also has a sister, Jessica, who pitched for the Seminoles from 2011-14.
Princeton will face either Georgia (33-21) or Jacksonville State (40-10) Saturday afternoon, either at 12 or 2:30. Georgia made the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid as all 13 SEC teams made the 64-team NCAA field. The Bulldogs missed out on the 12-team SEC tournament but, owing to the strength of the conference, are ranked No. 25 in the nation in the latest USA Today/NFCA Coaches rankings and are receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. Georgia is 2-0 all-time against Princeton with both games occurring in 2002.
The Bulldogs rank fifth in the nation in batting average at .339 and count sisters senior Sydni Emanuel (seventh in the nation in hits, with 80) and junior Cortni Emanuel (seventh in stolen bases per game, at 0.83) as players with top-10 statistical rankings. Both sisters - Sydni Emanuel at .437 and Cortni Emanuel at .425 - are hitting over .400. Brittany Gray leads the Georgia staff with an 18-10 record, a 2.06 ERA and 160 innings pitched while Kylie Bass (7-3, 2.08, 77 1/3 IP) and Mary Avant (6-6, 3.32 ERA, 76 IP) are also among the Bulldog pitchers who have made more than 20 appearances.
Jacksonville State, which Princeton has never faced, won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament to gain the NCAA bid after going 15-1 in conference play. The Gamecocks' top statistical ranking outside of its .800 winning percentage is its 1.69 ERA, supported by junior Whitney Gillespie's (20-4, 187 2/3 IP) nationally ninth-ranked 1.11 ERA and senior Taylor West's (16-4, 121 1/3 IP) 2.02 ERA.
Princeton (25-18) ranks 11th in the nation in fielding percentage at .9761 (1186/1215), a mark that could set the program record for fielding percentage in a season as it's just ahead of 2006's .9759 (1340/1373). Senior Marissa Reynolds enters the NCAAs ranking fourth in the nation in doubles per game at 0.41, fifth in on-base percentage at .574, fifth in slugging percentage at .886, and sixth in batting average at .457. In the circle, Nori is 9-3 with a 3.29 ERA and fellow senior Claire Klausner, who started the front end of every Ivy League doubleheader, is 11-6 with a 3.55 ERA.
The Tigers can also set several season or career records while at the NCAAs, including:
• Reynolds (.457) is currently in front of Linda Smolka '89 (.446) for the best single-season batting average in program history.
• Rookie Megan Donahey (58) is five hits behind Tara Christie '97 (63) for the most hits by a freshman in program and Ivy history.
• Reynolds (27) is in the top four in program history for most extra-base hits in a season, behind Michelle Morale '97 (35), Amanda Pfeiffer '97 (32), Kelsey Quist '10 (28) and tied with Kathryn Welch '09 (27).
• Reynolds (87) is one walk short of the program record for career walks and two walks short of the Ivy record (Tara Pignoli '95, 88, Christina Khosravi, Penn, 89). • Sophomore Riley Wilkinson already has the record for most career saves (eight) and season saves (four, 2016 and 2017). She's one back of the Ivy record for saves in a season (Lauren Marx, Cornell, 2012) and two back of the career record (Rachel Brown, Harvard, 2012).