Softball Team to Open Ivy League Tournament Thursday at Home vs. Columbia

Thursday, May 11

Princeton, N.J.

12:00 PM

Princeton University

Columbia (Ivy League Tournament)

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Princeton Softball celebrates Ivy championship jumping under banner

Photo by: Chloe Broeker/Dartmouth

Softball Team to Open Ivy League Tournament Thursday at Home vs. Columbia

May 09, 2023 | Softball

By amassing a 16-5 Ivy League record and taking two out of three from fellow Ivy League champion Harvard in the teams' regular-season series, the Princeton softball team earned the chance to host this week's Ivy League Tournament at a place where Princeton has been tough to beat this season.

Princeton will open the Ivy League Tournament Thursday at noon against Columbia, a team Princeton swept in the teams' regular-season series April 8-9 in Princeton. On the season, the Tigers have an 11-1 home record, with the lone loss coming to Harvard in the series finale on April 22, 6-5.

vs. Columbia, Thursday, 12 p.m. | ESPN+ | Live Stats | Int'l Video | Tickets

Unlike the regular season, the Ivy League Tournament is a ticketed event. Tickets can be purchased in advance here, or on site day-of at the Roberts Stadium soccer venue. Please click here for gameday information.

This will be Princeton's fifth visit to the Ivy League postseason since the league returned to a league-postseason format in 2007, then with the Ivy League Championship Series that matched the winners of the then-two divisions, North and South. That format, which lasted through 2017, had Princeton in the South division with Columbia, Cornell and Penn, and Princeton won the division three times, in 2008, 2016 and 2017, each time facing and defeating Harvard in the ILCS to win both the Ivy title and the NCAA automatic bid. In 2018, the league returned to a single-division format, with the second-place team taking on the Ivy champ at the Ivy champ's field in a best-of-three series, solely for the NCAA bid. Princeton was in the Ivy League Playoff Series once, last season, again defeating Harvard.

Now with the four-team tournament, the Ivy's format will mirror an NCAA regional's, with the schedule as follows:

Thursday
Game 1: (1) Princeton vs. (4) Columbia, 12 p.m.
Game 2: (2) Harvard vs. (3) Yale, 2:30 p.m. (approx.)

Friday
Game 3: Winners of Games 1 and 2, 10 a.m.
Game 4: Losers of Game 1 and Game 2, 12:30 p.m. (approx.)
Game 5: Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 3, 3 p.m. (approx.)

Saturday
Game 6: Winners of Games 3 and 5, 12 p.m.
Game 7: Rematch of Game 6, If Game 5 winner wins Game 6, 2:30 p.m. (approx.)

The winner of the Ivy League Tournament will learn its NCAA regional destination Sunday at 7 p.m. in a selection show broadcast on ESPN2.

Here's a look at how the Tigers have fared this season against each of the three teams at the Ivy League Tournament:

vs. Columbia
Princeton turned in a strong weekend against Columbia in an April 8-9 sweep in Princeton, outscoring the Lions by a combined 20-5. While Abby Hornberger was an effective pinch hitter during the series, going 2 for 3, Allison Ha led the starters, going 5 for 10 as Princeton hit .366 (30-82) on the weekend. Julia Dumais and Lauren Sablone both homered as Ha and Dumais led the team with four RBI apiece. In the circle, Alexis Laudenslager had two wins and Meghan Harrington had one in relief. Laudenslager limited the Lions to two hits and two walks in 10 innings, striking out 13 as Columbia hit .061 against her and .125 against the staff overall.

Six players split Columbia's eight hits on the weekend, with Megan Ryono and Sarah Mikami getting two each and both of Ryono's hits as doubles. Jaden Hill also had a double and Maddie Souza tripled as the Lions had four extra-base hits on the series. In the circle, Jordan Hill (6.2 IP) and Raquel Reyes (7.1) logged most of the innings, with Hill (4.20 ERA) taking one loss and Reyes (7.64) two.

vs. Harvard
Serena Starks hit .700 against the Crimson in the April 21-22 series in Princeton, going 7 for 10 to lead a Tiger team that hit .295 in the series. Lauren Sablone went 2 for 5 (.400) with two walks. Princeton had four extra-base hits in the series, with Cate Bade and Lauren Murphy doubling, Ashley McDonald hitting a triple and Julia Dumais homering. In the circle, Alexis Laudenslager threw 12 innings, getting both wins and striking out 11 while allowing five runs, four earned, on eight hits and six walks. Meghan Harrington threw five innings, allowing just an unearned run on six hits and three walks, striking out three, while Molly Chambers threw four shutout innings, allowing just a hit and two walks, striking out three. Brielle Wright had the loss in a tough start in the series finale. Princeton ended up outscoring Harvard 17-11 in the series.

Eight players split the Crimson's 17 hits as the team hit .236 against Princeton. Kaitlin Lampson (2 for 4, 1 walk), Brianna Jewett (1 for 2, 2 walks), Madi Mays (3 for 7, 1 HBP) and Trina Hoang (4 for 10, 2 walks) all hit .400 or better on the weekend with Lampson getting the team's lone extra-base hit, a double. Harvard used five arms on the weekend, none more than Riley Flynn, who went 6 2/3 innings and had a 4.20 ERA, and Katie Arrambide, who went six innings and had a 3.50 ERA. Ryan Grace (0.2 IP, 0.00 ERA), Lindsay Poulos (2.1 IP, 3.00 ERA) and Anna Reed (3.1 IP, 12.60 ERA) also threw, with Arrambide getting the win and Flynn and Reed taking the losses.

vs. Yale
The Tigers took all three games from Yale in Princeton to open the Ivy season March 18-19 with 12 players splitting Princeton's 30 hits as the Tigers hit .390 on the weekend. Seven players each had a double with Caitlin Bish and Sophia Marsalo homering. Serena Starks, who went 5 for 10, had the most hits on the weekend and was one of seven players, between starters and pinch-hitters, to hit .400 or better on the weekend. Princeton outscored Yale on the weekend 20-6, but a 12-0, five-inning no-hitter from Alexis Laudenslager skewed that as the final two wins were one-run games, 5-4 and 3-2. Laudenslager threw 9 1/3 of the 19 innings on the weekend, going 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 12 Ks against six walks on the way to two wins. Molly Chambers had the other win, going 2 2/3 innings and accruing a 2.62 ERA, allowing a run on two hits and two walks, striking out four. Meghan Harrington had 2 2/3 scoreless innings, getting a save.

Yale hit .174 against the Tiger staff with six players getting hits and Willa Ferrer (3 for 8) getting three of the 12 as Carolyn Skotz, Sophie Woodridge, Libby Peoples and Maddie Latta had two each. Ferrer, Skotz and Peoples had a double while Latta tripled and Woodridge homered. Yale used four pitchers, all between 2 1/3 and 6 2/3 innings, with Nicole Conway (6 2/3 IP, 7.35 ERA) taking one loss and Emma Taylor (2 1/3, 21.00 ERA) taking two. Latta threw five innings with a 4.20 ERA and Hannah Turner 2 1/3 shutout innings.