Softball Team to Open Season This Weekend at College of Charleston

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Forecasted as Ivy League champions in this year's preseason poll, the Princeton softball team will begin the path toward fulfilling that distinction this weekend when they head to Charleston, S.C., for five games hosted by the College of Charleston.

Two games against Oakland, two against South Carolina State, and one against host College of Charleston are on the docket Friday through Sunday. Here's a look at the Tigers and their opponents for the weekend:

Princeton returns five players who earned All-Ivy League honors in 2022 or 2023, including third baseman Julia Dumais (2023 second team), shortstop Grace Jackson (2022 and 2023 second team), outfielder Allison Ha (2023 second team, 2022 first team), first baseman Sophia Marsalo (2022 first team and Ivy Rookie of the Year), and Lauren Sablone (2022 second team). Among the losses to graduation are two-time Ivy Pitcher of the Year Alexis Laudenslager, now a grad student at Notre Dame, and 2023 Ivy Player of the Year outfielder Serena Starks, now a grad student at Illinois.

Though Laudenslager threw better than 40 percent of Princeton's innings last year, the arms behind the rest of Princeton's 2023 innings return in Meghan Harrington (2-1, 3.32 ERA, 52 2/3 IP), Molly Chambers (6-3, 3.66 ERA, 72 2/3 IP), and Brielle Wright (4-6, 4.52 ERA, 62 IP). The 2023 Tigers won the team's second straight Ivy League championship, earning the right to host the first Ivy League Tournament before losing the semifinal game against Columbia and winning three straight to force an if-necessary game against Harvard, which the Crimson held on to win 3-2 and take the NCAA auto bid.

Oakland • Friday, 10 a.m. Live Stats & Sunday, 11 a.m. Live Stats
Oakland will also open its season this weekend. The Grizzlies, from outside Detroit and who compete in the Horizon League, went 21-21 overall and 14-7 in the league last season, earning the top seed in the Horizon League Tournament before Northern Kentucky took two of the teams' three meetings in that event to take the automatic NCAA bid. Sydney Campbell, the 2023 Horizon League Pitcher of the Year, is back, as are 2023 first-team outfielder Maci Brown, 2023 first-team shortstop Reese Ruhlman, and 2023 second-team catcher/first baseman Jen Krizka. The Tigers and Grizzlies have not met.

South Carolina State • Friday 12:30 p.m. Live Stats & Saturday 12:30 p.m. Live Stats
South Carolina State has played two weekends of games, holding a 1-7 record. The team missed out on the MEAC Tournament last season by one spot, finishing seventh in the league. The Tigers and Bulldogs have not met.

College of Charleston • Saturday 5:30 p.m. Live Stats | Live Video
College of Charleston stands 3-4 heading into a midweek game against Coastal Carolina. The Cougars had the sixth seed in the 2023 CAA Tournament and lost their first-round game to Stony Brook, ending the team's season. A pair of sophomores, third baseman Karlee Hughes and pitcher Caroline Conner, were second-team All-CAA and All-CAA rookie teamers last year, with Conner as the CAA Rookie of the Year. Princeton and C of C have met three times, but not since 2014. Princeton won games in 1996 and 1997, both held at Winthrop, and C of C won in 2014 in a game at UCF.

Following the opening weekend, Princeton will head to UCF for a five-game weekend March 1-3 against Bethune-Cookman, UCF (twice), Kennesaw State and South Carolina.

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