Meyer, Waslawski Homer as Penn Series Closes

Saturday, April 28

Princeton, N.J.

12:30 PM

Princeton University

9-26, 7-10

Penn

16-20, 11-9

Penn

Princeton

Kaitlyn Waslawski homered for the first time this season Saturday against Penn.

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

April 28, 2018 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Rookie Mackenzie Meyer and junior Kaitlyn Waslawski homered for the Princeton softball team in Saturday's doubleheader against Penn, but the Quakers took both games, 9-2 in the first game and 3-2 in the second, to sweep the series at the Class of 1895 Field.

Princeton fell to 7-11 in Ivy League play heading into next weekend's season finale series against Cornell. The Quakers used the sweep to improve to 12-9 in the league, and Harvard (14-6), Dartmouth (12-5), Columbia (13-7) are in the top three spots in the race for the two Ivy League Championship Series berths as some teams will wrap their regular seasons Sunday and others will play into next weekend.

In Saturday's first game, Tiger rookie Allie Reynolds faced one over the minimum through the first three innings while taking a shutout into the fourth, and Meyer staked Princeton to a 2-0 lead with a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the third that brought home a single from Allison Harvey. The home run was Meyer's team-best seventh of the season.

Penn halved that deficit in the fourth, getting a two-out double from Lucy Yang to pick up a Sarah Cwiertnia base hit two batters earlier.

Princeton stayed ahead until Penn broke out for a five-run sixth inning to grab the lead for good. Two walks and four hits fueled the Quakers in that frame with a Jurie Joyner double, a Molly Oretsky sacrifice fly, a Tabitha Dyer two-run single and a Katie Petrosky base hit bringing home the runs. Penn expanded the lead in the seventh when a pair of walks put runners on for a Clare Sebastianelli three-run homer on the way to the 9-2 lead.

Penn pitcher Jennifer Brann settled in after the Meyer home run, getting the win while retiring 11 of the last 13 Tigers she faced. Reynolds took the loss for Princeton while working the first six innings before giving way to Alex Viscusi for the seventh.

Penn took the lead in the nightcap when a two-out Joyner single in the first brought home a leadoff walk to Jess England, and though Ashley LaGuardia left the bases full of Quakers in that frame and stranded two more in scoring position between the second and fourth innings, the Quaker duo of Abby Abramson and Mason Spichiger equaled her by giving up just a run over the first five innings.

Waslawski's second-inning solo homer to tie it up was that lone Tiger run over the first five frames, and Penn took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth on two base hits and a walk with Yang driving home the run. The Quaker lead became 3-1 in the sixth when a leadoff walk to Oretsky proved costly after she came around on a base hit, sacrifice and a wild pitch. Though Princeton pulled within 3-2 thanks to a leadoff Meyer triple followed by a Kylee Pierce base hit in the sixth, Oretsky's run became the difference when Spichiger set down six of the seven Tigers she faced after Pierce's RBI.

Princeton will close its season next Saturday with two and Sunday with one against Cornell, both 12:30 p.m. starts with free admission at the Class of 1895 Field.