Softball Team to Visit Columbia as Ivy Season Continues

Coming off an Ivy opening-weekend sweep of Cornell, the Princeton softball team will look to keep the good start going when the Tigers visit Columbia this weekend.

at Columbia | Int'l Video | Live Stats
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. DH | ESPN + Game 1 | Game 2
Sunday, 12:30 p.m. | ESPN+

On Princeton: The Tigers (13-9, 3-0) have won four in a row heading into the weekend, including a 3-0 Ivy League start to stand atop the league with a one-game lead over Penn, Harvard and Columbia, all 2-1. At the start of the week, Princeton ranked 22nd in the country in batting average, at .343, a category in which it led the league, as it did in doubles (43), doubles per game (1.95), fielding percentage (.974), hits (214), on-base percentage (.404), RBI per game (5.86), RBI (129), scoring (6.14 runs/game), fewest hit batters by the pitching staff (six) shutouts (three), slugging percentage (.514), and total runs scored (135). Individually, Princeton has the league leader in doubles (Julia Dumais, nine), doubles per game (Dumais, 0.41), runs per game (Dumais, 1.23), saves (Reece Uehara, two), shutouts (Uehara, two), and strikeouts per seven innings (Keala Hollenkamp, 6.8).

On Columbia: The Lions (10-13, 2-1) endured a tough stretch to start the season, beginning 0-9, but have since won 10 of their last 14 games, including taking two of three from Brown last weekend in Providence to open the Ivy season. Columbia leads the Ivy in double plays (10), double plays per game (0.43), hit by pitch (19), hits allowed per seven innings (7.61), and walks (83). Individually, Mads Lawson leads the Ivy in complete games pitched (eight), games started (13), innings pitched (65), and strikeouts (61), and Caylene Nguyen leads with 0.15 sac bunts per game.

Series history: Princeton leads the all-time series 53-24 and split last season's four meetings 2-2, winning one of three in the regular-season weekend before knocking the Lions out of the Ivy League Tournament last year at Cynthia Paul Field, which allowed Princeton to advance to the tournament final. Columbia also took two of three in the 2024 series in New York, and the last time Princeton won a series over the Lions was in 2023, winning three in Princeton. The Tigers also swept the series in New York in 2022. Between last year's four games, Princeton out-hit Columbia .304 to .211 with 10 Tigers splitting the team's 31 hits. Julia Dumais, who missed the Columbia series due to injury last year, went 2 for 3 in the Ivy League Tournament game, and Braeden Hale, who has missed time recently due to injury, was the top hitter among those to play in all four games, hitting .538 (7-13). Brielle Wright and Cassidy Shaw combined to throw 25 1/3 of the team's 26 innings against the Lions in 2025, with the staff combining for a 1.35 ERA. For the Lions, both players who played in more than one game against Princeton last season and hit better than .300 in doing so graduated, in Cami Neal (.500, 5-10) and Caroline Palys (.300, 3-10). In the circle, Jordan Hill, who threw 15 2/3 of the 25 innings against Princeton last season, graduated, though Emmy Davis, who threw 5 1/3 shutout innings against Princeton in 2025, is back.

The Ivy title run: Princeton has won the last four Ivy League titles, which are decided on regular-season play, and has hosted the last four Ivy League postseasons, including the 2022 Ivy League Playoff Series (winning two of three from Harvard), the 2023 Ivy League Tournament (made final, which Harvard won), the 2024 Ivy League Tournament (won), and the 2025 Ivy League Tournament (made final, which Brown won). Only one other time in Ivy League history has a team won at least four Ivy League titles in a row, and that was Princeton as well, which won seven straight from 1983-89.

Coaching staff: Princeton head coach Lisa Van Ackeren is in her 14th season at Princeton and is the dean of the current Ivy League coaches. All-time, Van Ackeren is the second-winningest coach in program history and sixth-winningest head coach in Ivy League history, at 266 wins. She could match becoming the fifth-winningest coach in league history this weekend, with former Brown coach Phil Pincince currently in that spot with 269 wins. The top four, all former coaches in the league, are Harvard's Jenny Allard (688), Cornell's Dick Blood (623), Princeton's Cindy Cohen (559) and Penn's Leslie King (354). Princeton has won six of the nine Ivy League Coach/Coaching Staff of the Year honors since the award was inaugurated in 2015, including 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 (no award in 2020 or 2021). Assistant coach Alyssa Davis is entering her seventh season, Ashley McDonald her second, and Nicole Arias her 12th.

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