Softball Team Sweeps Pair from Cornell to Open Series

Saturday, April 9

Princeton, N.J.

12:30 PM

Princeton University

14-12, 7-3

Cornell

8-14, 2-5

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Cornell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
Princeton	1	4	1	0	0	0	X	6	10	0

Adrienne Chang and the Tigers swept Cornell on Saturday.

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Softball Team Sweeps Pair from Cornell to Open Series

April 09, 2022 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Scoring a combined 14 runs with three pitchers teaming up for 12 shutout innings, the Princeton softball team did its part on Saturday to stay atop the Ivy League with 6-0 and 8-0 wins over Cornell.

The teams will meet on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. for a single game to close out the series. Streaming will be on ESPN+ with live stats here.

At day's end, Princeton (8-3) is a game up on Harvard (6-3) in the Ivy race, though the Crimson will finish one game and play another on Sunday against Penn after seeing Saturday's action stopped midway through the first game due to weather. The third game of that series is postponed with the makeup date to be determined. Following this weekend, Princeton will have three more Ivy series over the next three weekends, at Yale, at home against Penn, and at Columbia.

In the first game on Saturday, Princeton got going quickly, with Allison Ha getting the third straight hit of the bottom of the first to drive in Sophia Marsalo and put Princeton up 1-0. The Tigers added to it in the second inning in a four-run, five-hit frame that saw Haley Hoffman, Marsalo and Serena Starks all contribute RBI to make it 5-0. In the third, a leadoff walk to Grace Jackson preceded an Ashley McDonald double two batters later to make it 6-0.

That was more than enough for Ali Blanchard, who went 6 1/3 innings and struck out 12 batters to match her career high, allowing five hits and three walks. Molly Chambers fanned the only two batters she faced to close it out in the seventh.

Princeton jumped on the Big Red early in game two, using a five-hit first inning to score four runs as Blanchard and McDonald each had a two-RBI base hit. The rest of Princeton's runs came in the fourth inning as the Tigers scored four runs on four hits and a walk. Adrienne Chang, Marsalo and McDonald each had an RBI double and Ha had an RBI single to push the game into run-rule range.

Alexis Laudenslager threw the first four innings, allowing just one hit while walking two, hitting one and striking out three. Chambers closed it out by getting Cornell in order in the fifth.

Princeton hit .404 for the day, with Marsalo going 6 for 7 with two doubles and three runs driven in, and Ha going 4 for 6 with two doubles and two runs driven in. Blanchard, Laudenslager and Chambers, in tossing a combined 12 shutout innings, allowed a total of six hits, five walks and one hit batter, striking out 18 batters.