Saturday, April 20
New Haven, Conn.
12:30 PM
Princeton University
at
Yale
Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast
Ivy Lead on the Line as Princeton Heads to Yale This Weekend
April 18, 2024 | Softball
The inside track to the 2024 Ivy League championship and the right to host the Ivy League Tournament is on the line this weekend when the Princeton softball team heads to Yale for a three-game series.
at Yale | Live Stats | Int'l Video
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Saturday, Game 2 | ESPN+
Sunday, 12:30 p.m. | ESPN+
On Princeton: The Tigers have won five games in a row overall and four straight in Ivy play, standing in second place at 8-4 and behind only 12-3 Yale. A sweep this weekend would put Princeton alone in first place with two weekends to go in league play for most teams. In league play, Princeton leads the Ivy in batting average at .341 with Yale third at .304. Yale is third in ERA in Ivy games at 3.64 with Princeton sixth at 4.49. Lauren Sablone is leading the league in batting average in Ivy play, hitting .513 with Sophia Marsalo fifth at .438 and Sonia Zhang seventh at .429, the only team with three players in the top 10 in the league in that stat.Â
On Yale: The Bulldogs have won eight games in a row overall, surging into first place in the Ivy with back-to-back weekend sweeps of Cornell and Penn. The series sweep was Yale's third of the season, opening with one against Harvard in mid-March. Having opened league play a week earlier than every other Ivy team except Harvard, Yale's last regular-season home weekend is this weekend against the Tigers with a visit to Columbia set to wrap Ivy play next weekend. Carolyn Skotz leads Yale in Ivy games in batting average at .405. Emma Taylor has thrown 67 1/3 of the team's 102 innings in Ivy play, holding a 2.91 ERA.Â
The series: Princeton leads the all-time series with Yale 66-15 and has won seven straight games against the Bulldogs, sweeping the three-game series in New Haven in 2022, sweeping in Princeton in 2023, and winning a game in the 2023 Ivy League Tournament against Yale. The Bulldogs' last win over Princeton came in 2019 in Princeton as Yale salvaged the last game of the three-game series. In New Haven, Princeton has won eight straight games, sweeping the three-game series in 2022 and 2018 and sweeping a doubleheader in 2016. Yale's last home win over Princeton came in 2014, taking the second game of a doubleheader. Princeton is 21-3 against Yale under Lisa Van Ackeren, whose coaching tenure with the Tigers began in 2013.
Saves record watch: Brielle Wright has already set the Princeton single-season save record and Ivy League single-season saves record, and has already tied the Princeton career record. With eight saves this season and nine in her career, the sophomore will break the Princeton career record with her next save, her 10th of her career, and tie the Ivy career record, held by a pair of Harvard pitchers in Rachel Brown (2009-12) and Katie Duncan (2016-19), and two more saves would break the Ivy career record.
Wins list: Princeton stands at 20 wins this season, reaching the 20-win mark for the third straight year. The team won 29 games last season and 27 in 2022 after having won 14 games in 2019 before the pandemic cut the 2020 and 2021 seasons short.
National stat rankings: Through Wednesday's games, Princeton stood 16th nationally in triples per game (0.35) and 23rd in stolen bases per game (1.84). Brielle Wright stood second nationally with her eight saves, one back of Missouri's Taylor Pannell for the national lead. Wright was also 14th in strikeout-to-walk ratio with six Ks for every free pass. Bulldogs catcher Sam Goodcase was fifth with 13 runners caught stealing.
Up next: Princeton will return home to host Brown as the Ivy season continues, April 27-28.
at Yale | Live Stats | Int'l Video
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Saturday, Game 2 | ESPN+
Sunday, 12:30 p.m. | ESPN+
On Princeton: The Tigers have won five games in a row overall and four straight in Ivy play, standing in second place at 8-4 and behind only 12-3 Yale. A sweep this weekend would put Princeton alone in first place with two weekends to go in league play for most teams. In league play, Princeton leads the Ivy in batting average at .341 with Yale third at .304. Yale is third in ERA in Ivy games at 3.64 with Princeton sixth at 4.49. Lauren Sablone is leading the league in batting average in Ivy play, hitting .513 with Sophia Marsalo fifth at .438 and Sonia Zhang seventh at .429, the only team with three players in the top 10 in the league in that stat.Â
On Yale: The Bulldogs have won eight games in a row overall, surging into first place in the Ivy with back-to-back weekend sweeps of Cornell and Penn. The series sweep was Yale's third of the season, opening with one against Harvard in mid-March. Having opened league play a week earlier than every other Ivy team except Harvard, Yale's last regular-season home weekend is this weekend against the Tigers with a visit to Columbia set to wrap Ivy play next weekend. Carolyn Skotz leads Yale in Ivy games in batting average at .405. Emma Taylor has thrown 67 1/3 of the team's 102 innings in Ivy play, holding a 2.91 ERA.Â
The series: Princeton leads the all-time series with Yale 66-15 and has won seven straight games against the Bulldogs, sweeping the three-game series in New Haven in 2022, sweeping in Princeton in 2023, and winning a game in the 2023 Ivy League Tournament against Yale. The Bulldogs' last win over Princeton came in 2019 in Princeton as Yale salvaged the last game of the three-game series. In New Haven, Princeton has won eight straight games, sweeping the three-game series in 2022 and 2018 and sweeping a doubleheader in 2016. Yale's last home win over Princeton came in 2014, taking the second game of a doubleheader. Princeton is 21-3 against Yale under Lisa Van Ackeren, whose coaching tenure with the Tigers began in 2013.
Saves record watch: Brielle Wright has already set the Princeton single-season save record and Ivy League single-season saves record, and has already tied the Princeton career record. With eight saves this season and nine in her career, the sophomore will break the Princeton career record with her next save, her 10th of her career, and tie the Ivy career record, held by a pair of Harvard pitchers in Rachel Brown (2009-12) and Katie Duncan (2016-19), and two more saves would break the Ivy career record.
Wins list: Princeton stands at 20 wins this season, reaching the 20-win mark for the third straight year. The team won 29 games last season and 27 in 2022 after having won 14 games in 2019 before the pandemic cut the 2020 and 2021 seasons short.
National stat rankings: Through Wednesday's games, Princeton stood 16th nationally in triples per game (0.35) and 23rd in stolen bases per game (1.84). Brielle Wright stood second nationally with her eight saves, one back of Missouri's Taylor Pannell for the national lead. Wright was also 14th in strikeout-to-walk ratio with six Ks for every free pass. Bulldogs catcher Sam Goodcase was fifth with 13 runners caught stealing.
Up next: Princeton will return home to host Brown as the Ivy season continues, April 27-28.
Players Mentioned
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