Final Non-League Test Ahead Wednesday as Softball Team Hosts Rider

While Princeton's plans for the May 13-14 Ivy League Championship Series could be set by this weekend, the Tigers have some business at home before heading to Columbia to start the final Ivy League series of the season, hosting Rider for two at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at Princeton Softball Stadium at Strubing Field.

vs. Rider, Wednesday, 3 p.m. doubleheader | ESPN+ Game 1 | ESPN+ Game 2 | Live Stats

As the game is on a weekday before 5 p.m., attendees should park in the Harrison Street lot, found on the right side of this map (PDF), or at the meters on Prospect Avenue. Princeton Softball Stadium at Strubing Field is located just to the left of Fitzrandolph Road and just above the construction area on the map.

Looking at the Ivy standings, Princeton has a league-best 14 Ivy wins and is tied with Harvard (11-4) and Dartmouth (8-4) with a league-low four conference losses. If Princeton sweeps Columbia this weekend to finish at 17-4 in the league, it would have the tiebreaker over Harvard for hosting thanks to Princeton's head-to-head series win over the Crimson. If Dartmouth runs the table over its final nine league games, the Big Green have the tiebreaker on Princeton as Dartmouth won the teams' head-to-head series. Harvard and Dartmouth are set to meet this weekend at Harvard after Dartmouth goes to Penn on Tuesday and Wednesday. Though Princeton is idle on the May 7-8 weekend, other league teams, including Dartmouth (at Cornell), will be finishing the league season on those dates.

Princeton has an Ivy-best .295 batting average on the season with Adrienne Chang (.376), Sophia Marsalo (.348), Serena Starks (.341), Lauren Sablone (.337) and Allison Ha (.300) all above .300. Starks leads the league with 42 hits on the season while Ha's 13 doubles lead the league. Starks carries an eight-game hitting streak into Wednesday and is hitting .483 (14-29) with 12 RBI during that stretch, a span that raised her season batting average 43 points from .298 to .341.

In the circle, Princeton has the top two in strikeouts on the season with reigning Ivy Pitcher of the Week Ali Blanchard at 127 (9-3, 2.48 ERA) and Alexis Laudenslager at 102 (8-7, 2.35).

Princeton holds a 46-12 lead in the all-time series with its in-county neighbors from Rider, last meeting in 2019 for a split in the final season at Class of 1985 Field.

Rider is 8-6 in the MAAC and 24-20 overall, two games behind first-place Canisius in the league standings. The doubleheader will match two Lehigh alumnae coaches, with 2002 alum Davon Ortega for the Broncs and 2009 alum Lisa Van Ackeren for the Tigers.

Rider hits a MAAC-best .302, led by Kaitlin Vazquez (.389), Jessie Niegocki (.370), Grace Stansfield (.369), Alyssa Ansara (.350), Amanda Cooper (.337) and Olivia Burroughs (.325) all above .300. Of those who meet the minimum plate appearances, Niegocki stands fourth in the MAAC in batting average.

Niegocki and Anna-Mari Groskritz are two of the top four pitchers in the MAAC by ERA among those who meet the innings minimum, with Niegocki at 2.17 with a 5-4 record and Groskritz at 2.35 and an 8-10 record.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results