UPDATED: Visit from Yale Up Next as Softball Team Looks to Continue Strong Start

Friday, March 28

Princeton, N.J.

3:30 PM

Princeton University

Yale

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

UPDATED: Visit from Yale Up Next as Softball Team Looks to Continue Strong Start

March 24, 2025 | Softball

Following a weekend sweep of Harvard to open Cynthia Lynn Paul '94 Field last weekend, the Princeton softball team will host Yale for a three-game series on Friday and Saturday.

vs. Yale | Live Stats | Game Program | Free Admission
Friday, 3:30 p.m. single | ESPN+
Saturday, 12:30 p.m DH | ESPN+ Game 1 | Game 2 | Pride Game | Let Her Play & Future Tigers: Postgame autographs on the field

Princeton is 3-0 in the Ivy League for the third time in four seasons, along with 2022 and 2023. The Tigers made the Ivy final both years, defeating Harvard in the best-of-three Ivy League Playoff Series in 2022 and losing in the final of the 2023 Ivy League Tournament, both in Princeton. The Tigers last started better than 3-0 in the Ivy in 2023, starting 4-0, and extending the perfect start beyond that would be Princeton's best start since 2008, when Princeton started 14-0 in the league on the way to an Ivy record for league wins in a season at 18-2, later equaled by Harvard in 2011 and Dartmouth in 2013. Since the league went to a 21-game schedule in 2018, Princeton has won the most Ivy games in a season, going 17-4 in 2022.

Princeton has a strong all-time record against Yale and has done very well against the Bulldogs recently, too. All-time, Princeton is 69-15 against Yale, and at home, the Tigers lead the all-time series 28-9 and have won four in a row and nine of the last 10. In 2023, Princeton swept the series over Yale in Princeton before adding another win in the Ivy League Tournament at Princeton, and last season, Princeton swept all three in New Haven. Princeton has won the last 10 overall against Yale with the last loss coming in the series finale in 2019 in Princeton.

Yale has already played two Ivy League series, sweeping Penn in New Haven and taking two of three from Cornell in Ithaca. The middle game against Cornell has been Yale's only Ivy League loss so far, and despite taking just two hours, three minutes, that game saw Cornell defeat Yale 21-10 as the teams combined for 30 hits and just one error with 10 walks and one hit batter. Cornell scored all 21 of its runs over the first three innings to get a 21-0 lead, capped by a 17-run third inning. Yale scored 10 straight over just two innings, the fourth and the fifth, but the Bulldogs couldn't pull within the eight-run rule as the game ended after five innings. Despite all the runs, the game saw just four homers, with three of them as solo shots, all from Cornell. Isabella Fortini ied Yale at the plate in that game, going 3 for 3 with a walk and four RBI.

Princeton counts Karis Ford, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, as the Ivy League leader in batting average (.458), slugging percentage (.833), a category in which the team also leads the league (.510), and on-base percentage (.571), with the OBP standing 17th in the nation entering the week. The Tigers also lead the Ivy in homers, with 24. Three of Princeton's four pitchers are returners from 2024, including Cassidy Shaw (40 2/3 IP) and Meghan Harrington (13 2/3 IP), both 2024 Ivy all-tournament honorees, and Brielle Wright (47 2/3 IP), who set the Ivy and Princeton single-season and career saves records last season. Rookie Keala Hollenkamp (25 IP) got her first collegiate win by closing Sunday's win over Harvard with 2 1/3 shutout innings.

Yale leads the Ivy in runs scored (163), RBI (149), doubles (37), total bases (306), at bats (697), walks (109), HBPs (25), strikeouts (118), stolen bases (34), innings pitched (165 2/3), and fielding percentage (.966). Yale's Lauren Perren leads the Ivy in RBI (31), hits (33), homers (seven, with teammate Sophie Woodridge), and total bases (64), while Ella Gandolfo leads in runs scored (25) and walks per game (0.82), and Emma Taylor leads in innings pitched (70 1/3), starts (16), appearances (17) and wins (eight).

Six Tigers are hitting .300 or better, with Ford (.458) as last year's Ivy League Tournament Most Outstanding Player, Allison Ha (.373) as a 2024 honorable mention All-Ivy Leaguer, Julia Dumais (.368), Sonia Zhang (.333) and Lauren Sablone (.328), as 2024 first-team All-Ivy Leaguers, and Graciela Dominguez (.309) having raised her BA from a season-ending .207 in her rookie year last spring.

Up next, Princeton will have its first home non-league game of the season and the first night game at Cynthia Lynn Paul '94 Field, hosting Lisa Van Ackeren's alma mater Lehigh on Wednesday, April 2 in a 6 p.m. game. The Tigers will return to Ivy League play with their first road Ivy games of the season, heading to Dartmouth for three on April 5 and 6.