Update: Softball Team to Head to Lehigh for Tuesday Single

Tuesday, April 30

Bethlehem, Pa.

3:00 PM

Princeton University

Lehigh

Allison Ha and the Tigers will head to Lehigh on Tuesday.

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Update: Softball Team to Head to Lehigh for Tuesday Single

April 29, 2024 | Softball

Before it heads into an Ivy League weekend series against Cornell that has Ivy League title and Ivy League Tournament hosting duties at stake, the Princeton softball team will play its final regular-season non-conference game of the year at Lehigh on Tuesday afternoon.

at Lehigh, Tuesday, 3 p.m. (new time) | ESPN+ | Live Stats

Since the series resumed in 2022 after the pandemic-shortened seasons, Princeton won one and tied one in a 2022 doubleheader at Lehigh, lost twice in an event in Florida earlier last season, and won a single game at home later last season for a 2-2-1 record against the Mountain Hawks over the past two seasons. All-time, Princeton holds a 32-25-1 record against Lehigh.

Lehigh alumna Lisa Van Ackeren is a legend in her alma mater's athletic history, having been inducted into the school's athletic Hall of Fame in 2019. A four-time Patriot League Pitcher of the Year honoree and the 2008 Patriot League Player of the Year, Van Ackeren set Lehigh program records for games pitched (141), complete games (91), wins (94), innings pitched (774.2), shutouts (31) and strikeouts (928) and was a success at the plate as well, hitting 23 home runs.

Once Princeton resumes Ivy play this weekend, the Tigers will be two wins over Cornell away from hosting the Ivy League Tournament and winning a share of the Ivy title. Three wins would give Princeton the Ivy title outright. Princeton is one win or one loss each from Columbia and Brown away from clinching a place in the Ivy tournament.

The latest numbers from the NCAA are prior to last weekend, but Princeton ranked 23rd nationally in triples per game (0.32), 28th in stolen bases per game (1.74), and 36th in fielding percentage (0.972). Brielle Wright ranked third in saves (eight) and 20th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.25), Allison Ha was the 15th-toughest player to strike out (32.7 at-bats/K), and Sonia Zhang is 18th in on-base percentage (.526).

Lehigh had the 34th-best batting average in the nation (.311) while Josie Charles ranked sixth with six triples and seventh with 0.15 triples per game. The Mountain Hawks are 14-1 in the Patriot League, 29-15 overall, and have a huge series of their own coming up this weekend, heading to 15-0 Boston University to determine the Patriot League tournament host. Maria Urban (6-1, 2.47 ERA), Katelyn Young (16-8, 2.90 ERA) and Chloe Hess (6-5, 5.09 ERA) have thrown most of the innings for the Mountain Hawks, while Peyton Sward (.404), Emily Cimino (.328), Holly Lovett (.323), Gracie Smith (.320), Rory Dudley (.314), Josie Charles (.306) and Julia Mrochko (.306) are all regulars hitting over .300.

At 24-13 overall and 12-6 in the Ivy, Princeton has clinched its sixth 20-win season under Van Ackeren, whose teams have also reached the 20-win mark in 2013 (27), 2016 (23), 2017 (25), 2022 (27) and 2023 (29). Sonia Zhang is hitting .412 this season, aiming to become the first Princeton rookie in program history to hit .400 at season's end. The last Tiger of any class to do so was Marissa Reynolds '17, who hit .436 in 2017. Lauren Sablone (.373), Julia Dumais (.333), Sophia Marsalo (.312) and Allison Ha (.303) are also hitting above .300. Brielle Wright (4-3, 2.81 ERA) has a program- and Ivy League-record eight saves this season, is tied for the Princeton career record of nine with Riley Wilkinson '19, and is one short of the Ivy League career record of 10. Cassidy Shaw (10-6, 4.46) and Meghan Harrington (7-4, 4.28) have made 35 of the team's 37 starts with Wright and Molly Chambers (3-0, 4.86) typically coming out of the bullpen.