Updated: Princeton to Open NCAA Regional at Host Louisiana Friday

Friday, May 17

Lafayette, La.

1:00 PM ET/12:00 PM CT

Princeton University

Louisiana

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Princeton softball players watch the ncaa selection show

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Updated: Princeton to Open NCAA Regional at Host Louisiana Friday

May 13, 2024 | Softball

It's the Princeton softball program's 12th trip to the NCAA tournament, and it'll be at the site of the program's very first trip to the NCAAs when the Tigers take on host Louisiana on Friday at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.

at Louisiana, Friday, 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT (new time) | NCAA Regional
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Princeton will face either Ole Miss or Baylor on Saturday. With a win on Friday, the game would be at 3 p.m. ET. With a loss on Friday, the game would be at 5:30 p.m. ET. A loss and then a win would mean a second game on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. The last two teams standing will play on Sunday at a time to be determined for the regional title.

NCAA tournament history: Princeton is in the NCAAs for the 12th time and first since 2022. This is Princeton's fourth NCAAs under Lisa Van Ackeren, along with 2016, 2017 and 2022. Princeton made the Women's College World Series in 1995 and 1996, facing Louisiana at the 1996 WCWS. Princeton's first NCAAs was in 1994 at Louisiana, though the Tigers didn't face Louisiana in that tournament, taking on Utah twice and another Louisiana school, McNeese State, once. Princeton's last win in an NCAA tournament game was in 2005, and the last Ivy League team to win an NCAA tournament game was Harvard in 2012, which made its regional final at Washington. With Louisiana seeded 13th, the matchup is the best seeding an Ivy team has received in the NCAA tournament since 2013, when Penn opened against 16th-seeded Texas A&M. Washington was also seeded 16th the year before when Harvard was the last Ivy team to win an NCAA tournament game.

Ivy titles: Princeton's Ivy League title was its 22nd all-time and third in a row, the first time Princeton, or any other Ivy team, has won three straight league titles since Princeton last did it from 1994-96. The Ivy title share, clinched on Lauren Sablone's two-out, two-strike, bottom-of-the-seventh home run on May 4 vs. Cornell to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 win, also allowed Princeton to host the Ivy League Tournament, which decides only the Ivy's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The bid has been decided on Princeton's home field for each of the last three seasons, and it's been decided between Princeton and Harvard each time.

Against Louisiana: Princeton has faced Louisiana five times, all wins for the Ragin' Cajuns. The first meeting came in the 1996 WCWS and the rest of the four meetings came in in-season tournaments, in 1997 (twice), 2004 and 2023. Last year's meeting was an 8-3 Louisiana win at Texas. Princeton has never faced Ole Miss or Baylor.

On Louisiana: The Ragin' Cajuns were ranked No. 16 in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 20 in the NFCA rankings. Louisiana is 42-17 and earned an at-large bid after holding the top seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament before losing 9-5 to second-seeded Texas State in the final. Mihyia Davis enters the NCAA tournament ranked third in the nation with 84 hits. Sam Landry, who was the winning pitcher in the game against Princeton last season, is ninth in the nation with 24 wins.

On Ole Miss: Ole Miss, at 31-25 overall, was seeded 13th in the SEC tournament and won a game but fell one win short of the conference quarterfinals, earning an at-large NCAA bid.

On Baylor: Baylor, at 32-20 overall, earned an at-large bid after making the Big 12 semifinals. Baylor's Shaylon Govan is second in the nation in on-base percentage, at .590, and ninth in walks per game, at 0.88.

All-Ivy honorees: Princeton had five athletic All-Ivy honorees and four Ivy All-Tournament Team honorees, and each group had no overlap with the other. Rookie third baseman Sonia Zhang, junior centerfielder Lauren Sablone, and sophomore catcher/third baseman Julia Dumais were first-team All-Ivy honorees while junior first baseman Sophia Marsalo was a second-teamer and junior left fielder Allison Ha was an honorable mention. Senior second baseman Caitlin Bish was Princeton's Academic All-Ivy honoree, and Lisa Van Ackeren earned her fifth Ivy Coach of the Year honor. was Rookie outfielder/DP Karis Ford was the Ivy League Tournament MOP while shortstop Grace Jackson and starting pitchers Cassidy Shaw and Meghan Harrington were all-tournament team members.

Save record: With her save in the Ivy League Tournament if-necessary game, sophomore Brielle Wright picked up her ninth save of the season and 10th of her career, breaking Princeton's career record and tying the Ivy League career record. Wright's next save will set the Ivy record, finishing a run of four consecutive saves that set and/or tied Princeton and/or Ivy League records since tying the Ivy league single-season record with her seventh save of the season and eighth of her career on April 14 vs. Dartmouth.