At Ivy Season's Midpoint, Softball Team Set to Host Penn This Weekend

Saturday, April 11

Princeton, N.J.

12:30 PM

Princeton University

Penn

candid photo of softball seniors walking

Princeton's senior class of Abby Hornberger, Jessica Dumais, Brielle Wright and Courtney Harrison will be recognized before Saturday's first game.

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

At Ivy Season's Midpoint, Softball Team Set to Host Penn This Weekend

April 07, 2026 | Softball

Off to the program's best Ivy League start since 2008, the Princeton softball team will look to keep it going this weekend when the Tigers host Penn at Cynthia Lynn Paul '94 Field.

vs. Penn | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Team Yearbook | Free Admission | Alumni Weekend
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. doubleheader | ESPN+ Game 1 | Game 2 | Senior Day
Sunday, 12:30 p.m. single | ESPN+

Parking note: Parking in Meadows Drive Garage is limited due to construction. If the garage fills, fans will be directed to Stadium Drive Garage. A free shuttle runs continuously from 8am-6pm between Stadium Drive Garage and the Meadows loop (softball/rugby), with a ride time under five minutes.

Ivy standings: Princeton leads the Ivy at 9-0 after becoming the first team to sweep the first three series of the Ivy League season since the league format became seven three-game series in 2018. But, still with 12 games to go for most of the league, Harvard and Penn, two of Princeton's opponents over the next three weekends, each sit three games back at 6-3 with Columbia, which Princeton already swept this season, in fourth at 5-4 and in the last Ivy League Tournament spot. Brown and Dartmouth (3-6) are two games back of the Lions in that last ILT spot, with Cornell (4-8) 2 1/2 back and Yale (3-9) 3 1/2 back. The team that finishes the 21-game schedule atop the league will be the Ivy League champion and will host the Ivy League Tournament, which will determine the Tournament champion and the recipient of the league's NCAA tournament bid. Head-to-head is the first tiebreaker for seeding and hosting, giving the team that takes two out of three in any weekend series the tiebreaker over the other team.

Senior Day: Princeton will recognize its four-member senior class ahead of Saturday's doubleheader. The class, which includes Abby Hornberger, Courtney Harrison, Julia Dumais and Brielle Wright, have helped Princeton to Ivy League titles in each of their first three years, and to the 2024 NCAA tournament, including the program's first NCAA tournament win since 2005, defeating Ole Miss at the Lafayette Regional.

On Princeton: The Tigers (19-10, 9-0) are a win away from their fifth straight 20-win season, having averaged 28 wins over the last four seasons. Heading into the week, Princeton led the Ivy League in doubles (54), doubles per game (1.86), fielding percentage (.978), fewest hit batters by the pitching staff (seven), hits (273), RBI per game (5.48), RBI (159), shutouts (three), WHIP (1.54) and winning percentage (.655). Individually, Julia Dumais leads the Ivy in assists per game (2.17), doubles (12), doubles per game (0.41), times hit by a pitch (10), and hit by pitch per game (0.34), while Sonia Zhang leads in triples (four) and triples per game (0.14), Reece Uehara leads in shutouts (two) and Uehara, Brielle Wright and Keala Hollenkamp co-lead in saves (two).

On Penn: The Quakers (15-16, 6-3 Ivy) are in the midst of a turnaround, having already won more Ivy games this season than they did in any season since winning seven Ivy games in 2022, and the 15 overall wins are already the Quakers' most since 22 wins in 2019. Penn leads the Ivy in homers (29), homers per game (0.94), and shutouts (three), while individually, Gigi Ganje leads in homers (15), homers per game (0.48), runs per game (1.23), and total bases (103), while Ganje and Jaz Johnson co-lead in stolen bases (10), and Kelly Zybura leads in shutouts (two). If the Quakers finish in the top four, it would earn Penn its first Ivy League Tournament berth since the four-team tournament began in 2023, and it would mark the first time Penn has played in the Ivy postseason since 2015, when it lost in the Ivy League Championship Series to Dartmouth.

Series history: Princeton leads the all-time series 76-33 and have won the last seven, sweeping in Philadelphia in 2025 and Princeton in 2024 after taking two of three in Philadelphia in 2023. In Princeton, the Tigers have won six straight, with 2018 as the last time Penn won a series from Princeton, sweeping a series at Class of 1895 Field that season. In sweeping the three games in Philadelphia last season, Princeton out-hit Penn .326 to .162, and though Lauren Pappert (6 for 7) graduated, Sonia Zhang hit .455 (5 for 11) in the series. Brielle Wright threw 12 of the 20 innings, holding Penn to a .116 batting average against with a 1.75 ERA, winning two of the games with Cassidy Shaw getting a win. For the Quakers, Ella Utschig was the only batter to hit .300 in the series while five arms split the team's 20 innings in the circle, each throwing at least two innings and none more than six. Of the five pitchers, only Ainsley Pemberton (0.00 ERA, 2.0 IP), Morgan Sullivan (1.75 ERA, 4.0 IP) and Kelly Zybura (7.00 ERA, 6.0 IP) are back this season.

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 is the fifth-winningest head coach in Ivy League history, at 272 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.