Ivy Champion Softball Team to Host Dartmouth to Wrap Regular Season

Saturday, May 2

Princeton, N.J.

12:30 PM

Princeton University

Dartmouth

softball championship banner celebration photo

The 2026 Ivy champs will look to add some history to their season this weekend.

Ivy Champion Softball Team to Host Dartmouth to Wrap Regular Season

April 28, 2026 | Softball

Though the Ivy League title and hosting the Ivy League Tournament are secured, the Princeton softball team has history and momentum on the table this weekend when the Tigers host Dartmouth for the final regular-season series.

vs. Dartmouth | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Team Yearbook | Free Admission
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. DH | ESPN+ Game 1 | Game 2 | Cerebral Palsy Awareness & Inclusivity Game
Sunday, 12:30 p.m. single | ESPN+ | Future Tigers/Tiger Sisters/Let Her Play

The Ivy League Tournament: Princeton secured hosting the Ivy League Tournament by winning last weekend's series at Dartmouth, taking a six-game lead in the Ivy League standings into the final weekend. Princeton, Columbia and Harvard have clinched their spots, and the series sending Penn to Brown this weekend will effectively decide the fourth team in the field. That series, as well as Harvard's series at Columbia this weekend, will decide the seedings and pairings for the tournament, which will begin next Thursday at 12 p.m. with Princeton hosting the fourth seed and the other two teams following, and continue next Friday with a tripleheader to get the field down to two teams for next Saturday's 12 p.m. final.

Here's a look at where the Ivy standings heading into the weekend:

Team	Record	GB	This weekend's series
Princeton	17-1	--	vs. Dartmouth
Columbia	11-7	6	vs. Harvard
Harvard	10-8	7	at Columbia
Brown	8-9	8.5	vs. Penn
Penn	8-10	9	at Brown
Cornell	8-13	10.5	Off
Yale	7-14	11.5	Off
Dartmouth	5-12	11.5	at Princeton

Run at history: Princeton has 17 Ivy League wins this season, becoming just the eighth team in the 18 seasons since the Ivy season went to 20 games (became 21 in 2018) to reach that number. The record for league wins in a season is 18, co-held by Princeton (2008), Harvard (2011) and Dartmouth (2014), so two wins this weekend would get the 2026 Tigers the record. One more win would give Princeton 30 wins overall on the season, making the 2026 Tigers the 15th team in program history to reach 30 wins, something Princeton last did in 2024 with 30 wins that season. Two wins this weekend would lift Princeton to its most since winning 34 games in 2006.

On Princeton: The Tigers (29-11, 17-1) were the last conference-unbeaten team in Division I, and Princeton was included in D1Softball's Mid-Major Top 25 for the third straight week, again at No. 24. Hitting .349 as a team, Princeton has nine regulars hitting above .300, among them Maddie Ratcheson (.330) and Abby Hornberger (.356), each of whom hit .700 last weekend at Harvard. Graciela Dominguez hits a team-best .414 with Julia Dumais also over .400 at .409. Entering the week, Princeton led the Ivy League in batting average (.349), triples (13), fielding percentage (.975), ERA (3.02), shutouts (nine), saves (nine, with the rest of the league having eight total), fewest runs allowed (132), fewest earned runs allowed (113), fewest walks (85), fewest wild pitches (nine), fewest opposing batters hit by pitches (eight, second-lowest in the nation), fewest errors (28), and fewest stolen base attempts against (22). In Ivy League games, Princeton's .371 BA leads the league by 52 points, and the Tigers have the most hits (195), most triples (eight), slugging percentage (.548), most batters hit by pitches (16, co-lead), on-base percentage (.445), fielding percentage (.977), fewest errors (12), ERA (1.88, leading the league by 1.24), shutouts (six), saves (six, with the rest of the league at four total), fewest hits allowed (113), fewest runs allowed (36), fewest earned runs allowed (32), fewest home runs allowed (four, co-lead), lowest opponent BA (.242), fewest wild pitches (three), fewest opposing batters hit by pitches (two), fewest errors (12), and fewest stolen bases against (six). Individually, Julia Dumais has been hit by a pitch a league-high 13 times, and Brielle Wright and Reece Uehara co-lead the league with three saves, while Keala Hollenkamp leads with 25 runs allowed and 23 earned runs allowed. In league games, Wright is holding opposing batters to a league-low .132 BA and has a league-high three saves and league-low four runs, four earned runs, one double and 13 hits allowed. Uehara has allowed a league-low eight walks, and both Wright and Uehara co-lead the league with just one home run allowed.

On Dartmouth: The Big Green (8-22, 5-12) will wrap their season this weekend and have Faby Serna leading the team at the plate with a .394 BA with a 1.003 OPS and Olivia Schramm at .360 with a 1.022 OPS, and with the team at a .295. The 2024 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, Jensin Hall, has been limited to four games this season and hasn't pitched since March 21. Charley Maddox has thrown 72 2/3 of the team's 181 innings with Anna Marie Fagan (53 1/3 IP) and Isabel Kirby (42 1/3 IP) getting the rest of the starts.

Series history: Princeton leads the all-time series with the Big Green 42-28. Princeton has won eight of the last 10 against the Big Green since Dartmouth's last series win over Princeton, when the team took two of three from the Tigers in Princeton in 2022. Princeton has won the last four at home against Dartmouth, sweeping the series in 2024 and winning an Ivy League Tournament game over the Big Green that year, and took two of three in Hanover in last year's series. That series saw Princeton take the last two by six-inning run rule after a 2-1 10-inning loss in the series opener. In last year's series, Princeton out-hit the Big Green .396 to .244 with nine players hitting at least .300. Among those, Graciela Dominguez was 4 for 8, Sonia Zhang was 5 for 11, Jessica Phelps was 4 for 11, and Karis Ford was 3 for 10. Princeton had 17 extra-base hits to slug .692 and drew 14 walks and two hit batters for a .473 OBP. Princeton's staff had a 3.55 ERA on the weekend, with Brielle Wright at 2.92 over 12 innings and Cassidy Shaw at 3.65 with those two pitchers accounting for all but two of the 21 2/3 innings. Dartmouth had five players hit at least .300, with Cwen Wilson and Justice Malone each hitting .500 (4-8). Jensin Hall threw 15 of the 22 innings, holding a 4.20 ERA while the team had an 8.59 ERA.

The Ivy title run: Including 2026, Princeton has won the last five Ivy League titles, which are decided on regular-season play, and has hosted the last five 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 five Ivy League titles in a row, and that was Princeton as well, which won seven straight from 1983-89. Princeton has won 24 Ivy titles in program history, more than double any other team, with Harvard's 10 as second-most.

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 is the fifth-winningest head coach in Ivy League history, at 282 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.