Softball Team Takes Series with Yale, Clinches Ivy Tournament Bid

Saturday, April 18

New Haven, Conn.

12:30 PM

Princeton University

25-10, 13-0

Yale

13-26, 4-12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Princeton	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	0
Yale	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	3

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Softball Team Takes Series with Yale, Clinches Ivy Tournament Bid

April 18, 2026 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Taking its fifth Ivy League series win in as many league weekends this season, the Princeton softball team won Saturday's doubleheader opener, 2-0, before Yale came back one time too many in the nightcap and handed the Tigers their first conference loss of the season, 7-6 in 10 innings.

Princeton had been the last remaining unbeaten team in conference play in Division I, one day after Washington suffered its first Big Ten loss of the season Friday night at Oregon. Still, the Tigers' 14-0 Ivy start matched the best conference opening in program history, equaling the 2008 team, while Dartmouth's 15-0 start in 2014 remains the league record for at least another year.

Saturday's opener also clinched an Ivy League Tournament berth for Princeton, which will enter Sunday holding a 3 1/2-game lead over Harvard. The Crimson finish their series with Penn on Sunday before Princeton and Harvard meet next weekend in Cambridge, where the Tigers can move within reach of both the Ivy title and tournament hosting rights.

With two weekends remaining for most of the league after Sunday, Princeton sits atop the standings at 14-1, followed by Harvard at 10-4 and Columbia at 9-6. Penn and Brown, both 6-8 entering Sunday, remain in the chase, while Dartmouth is 4-10 and Yale 5-13. Cornell and Yale conclude Ivy play next weekend, while the other six teams continue through the first weekend of May before the top four advance to the Ivy Tournament on the second weekend of the month.

In the opener, Princeton scored twice in the first inning and made it stand up the rest of the way. An error, a Julia Dumais RBI double, and a Karis Ford triple produced the early cushion, while Cassidy Shaw and Brielle Wright combined on the shutout. Shaw worked the first 3 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out three, and Wright finished the final 3 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

Yale's offense woke up in the finale, but Princeton again struck first. Three hits, an unsuccessful fielder's choice, and an error led to three Tiger runs in the opening inning, with Ford reaching on the miscue to bring home one run before Abby Hornberger added a two-run single.

The Bulldogs answered with three runs in the second on a double, two singles, a walk, an error, and an unsuccessful fielder's choice, but Princeton regained the lead in the fourth when Sonia Zhang tripled and scored on a Graciela Dominguez sacrifice fly. The Tigers made it 5-3 in the sixth on a Dumais RBI triple, before Yale tied it again in the bottom half on two walks, a double, and a successful squeeze bunt.

The game stayed tied until the ninth, when Hornberger's solo home run put Princeton in front, 6-5. Yale answered with a run in the bottom of the inning on a hit and three walks, then after Princeton stranded two in the 10th, the Bulldogs used three hits in the bottom half to walk it off.