Columbia to Visit Ivy-Leading Softball Team Friday-Saturday

Three Ivy series remain for the Princeton softball team, which leads the Ivy League by three games heading into the team's final Ivy home series this weekend against Columbia.

vs. Columbia | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Game Program
Friday, 3:30 p.m. | ESPN+
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. | ESPN+ Game 1 | Game 2 | Senior Day/Team Impact

• At 11-1 in the Ivy, Princeton has a three-game lead over both 8-4 Harvard and 8-4 Dartmouth and has the tiebreaker on both for Ivy tournament hosting duties, having won the series against each. Brown and Columbia are four games back, each at 7-5, and Princeton has to face both of those teams, with Columbia this weekend and Brown two weeks from this weekend in Providence.

• At this pace, Princeton is chasing the record for the most league wins in league history. The league went to 20 Ivy games from 2007-17 before going to the present number of 21 in 2018. Princeton's 2008 team set the record, going 18-2, later equaled by Harvard in 2011 and Dartmouth in 2013. Since the 21-game league schedule came to be, Princeton has the most Ivy wins, winning 17 games in 2022.

• The Ivy League Tournament will be held May 8-10 at the home field of the highest seed. Princeton will clinch a spot in the Ivy tournament with a series sweep this weekend.

• Princeton will recognize its five-member senior class on Saturday before the group's final home regular-season Ivy games. The class, which includes Sophia Marsalo, Lauren Sablone, Allison Ha, Meghan Harrington and Lauren Pappert, has helped Princeton to three Ivy titles, with a possibility of a fourth this year, and two NCAA tournament appearances, with the possibility of a third this year. If the Tigers win the Ivy title, it'd make the Class of 2025 the first four-title class for the program since the Class of 1989. They'd be the first Tiger class to play in three NCAA tournaments since the Class of 2008. It's a class with a combined seven All-Ivy League honors, with Ha having three and Marsalo and Sablone two each. Sablone has one of the signature moments not just of the class but in program history. Against Cornell on May 4, 2024, with Princeton needing to win the game to win the Ivy title and host the Ivy tournament, the Tigers were down 4-2 to Cornell in the bottom of the seventh with two on, two out and a 3-2 count to Sablone, who hammered a three-run home run to left to win the game, the Ivy title and the right to host the 2024 Ivy tournament, which the Tigers went on to win as well.

• In Ivy games, Princeton is atop the league in batting average (.348), runs scored (94), triples (eight), walks at bat (62), ERA (2.02), fewest hits allowed (66), fewest runs allowed (24), fewest walks allowed (26), and fielding percentage (.988). Princeton has the Ivy leader in batting average in Jessica Phelps (.483), in ERA in Brielle Wright (1.62), in RBI in Allison Ha (20), in walks in Karis Ford (15), in on-base percentage in Dumais (.600), the two co-leaders in triples in Lauren Sablone and Julia Dumais (3 each), two of the three co-leaders in wins in Wright and Cassidy Shaw (five each), and the two co-leaders in shutouts in Shaw and Wright (two each).

• Princeton has outscored opponents 94-24 in Ivy games this season, scoring an average of 7.8 runs per game. At that rate, Princeton would finish the Ivy season with 164 runs scored, which would be an all-time high for the program, surpassing the 130 runs the team scored in 2008. Princeton's scoring margin of +3.9 runs in Ivy games is its best in league play since 2006, when the Tigers outscored league opponents 68-14 over 14 Ivy games. Since the Ivy schedule went to 20 games in 2007 (the schedule went to 21 games in 2018), the lowest run total for Ivy opponents in a season was in 2022, when the Tigers outscored league foes 109-43.

• On the season overall, Princeton leads the Ivy in batting average (.322), Sonia Zhang leads in runs scored (31), Julia Dumais and Lauren Sablone co-lead with four triples each, and Dumais leads in walks (24).

• Against the Lions, Princeton has a 51-22 all-time record, and the Tigers are 26-11 against Columbia under Lisa Van Ackeren. Over the past five Ivy League seasons (2018-19, 2022-24), the Princeton edge in the series stands at 10-7 and includes two series wins by Columbia, with the Lions taking two of three in 2018, 2019 and 2024. In 2023, the teams met five times, all in Princeton, with Princeton sweeping the regular-season series, Columbia winning the teams' Ivy League Tournament opener, and Princeton winning another ILT game as it fought its way out of the elimination bracket to force the 'if necessary' game against Harvard.

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