Tigers Sweep Penn to Open Ivy Weekend Series

Saturday, March 30

Princeton, N.J.

12:30 PM

Princeton University

13-9, 2-2

Penn

7-13, 2-2

Penn

Princeton

Lauren Sablone went 5 for 7 in the doubleheader with two doubles and a triple.

March 30, 2024 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Hits aplenty and strong starting pitching helped the Princeton softball team secure a Saturday doubleheader sweep of Penn at Princeton Softball Stadium at Strubing Field to open the three-game weekend series as the Tigers won 8-4 and 5-1.

In game one, rookie Cassidy Shaw went six innings and struck out a career-high nine batters, allowing three runs on five hits and five walks before Molly Chambers closed out the win in the seventh.

Sophia Marsalo went 3 for 3 in the opener with Sonia Zhang and Lauren Sablone getting two hits apiece.

Penn opened the scoring with a first-inning run, but Princeton limited the damage after two hits, two walks and a hit batter for the Quakers in the inning. Princeton got it back and then some in the bottom half of the inning, with Zhang and Sablone getting hit by pitches to put runners on for Julia Dumais to single and get a run home on an error. An Allison Ha sacrifice fly followed, as did an error to score another run, and Princeton led 3-1 after one.

Hits from Marsalo and Zhang in the second inning set the table for Sablone to drive home Marsalo for a 4-1 lead in the second, and Princeton pushed it to 7-1 in the third on three hits and a walk, with Allie Goodwin doubling home a run before Marsalo tripled home another and Zhang singled home the last run of the inning.

Penn got a run back in the fifth on a Delaney Smith solo homer, but Princeton answered that when Sablone tripled and came home on a Dumais groundout in the bottom of the sixth for an 8-2 lead. Penn got two in the seventh on three hits and a hit batter before Chambers closed the door.

Loads of highlights from today's twinbill sweep!

Hits here from Lauren Sablone, Allie Goodwin, Sonia Zhang and Sophia Marsalo! pic.twitter.com/LpJHvzFR5Z
— Princeton Softball (@PUSoftball) March 30, 2024

In game two, Meghan Harrington went 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven with a run allowed on seven hits and three walks before Chambers closed it out with a hitless two-thirds of an inning, striking out one.

Princeton had the only run of the game's first four innings when Grace Jackson had a second-inning leadoff double and used a wild pitch and a Goodwin single to score.

The Tigers pushed the lead to 4-0 in the fifth on doubles from Sablone, Allison Ha and Goodwin. Sablone had a one-out double before coming home two batters later on a passed ball, and after Ha's double and a walk to Jackson, Goodwin doubled both home.

Penn and Princeton traded runs in the sixth as the Quakers used three hits and a groundout to score, and in the bottom half, Abby Hornberger doubled two batters before Zhang singled home the Tigers' final run.

The teams will play the final game of the series on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.