CAGED TIGERS: Members of the Princeton University softball team do a cheer in their dugout during a game earlier this spring. Hosting the Ivy League postseason tournament last week, Princeton opened the double-elimination competition by falling 4-0 to Brown last Thursday. The Tigers bounced back from that loss to defeat Harvard 5-1 on Friday and topping Columbia 10-1 on Saturday to make the final round of the competition against Brown. Princeton fell 4-1 to the Bears on Saturday to get eliminated from the tourney. The Tigers finished the spring with a 28-18 record. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
By Bill Alden
As the Princeton University softball team started play in the Ivy League postseason tournament last Thursday morning, it was excited to be hosting the event at its gleaming new Cynthia Lynn Paul ’94 Field.
“It is really good to be at the stadium, it is privilege to host what we have had,” said Princeton head coach Lisa Van Ackeren, whose program was hosting its third straight Ivy tourney. “A lot of our kids don’t know anything different, they don’t even know that there is another option.”
Van Ackeren acknowledged that being at home could also lead to a subconscious sense of complacency.
“Sometimes that can cause you to sit back a little bit,” said Van Ackeren. “We can just assume.”
Facing fourth-seeded Brown in the opener of the double-elimination competition, the top-seeded Tigers experienced a tough setback, falling 4-0.
“I think we played a little hesitant and that is not us,” said Van Ackeren. “We are definitely not at our best. This game is too hard mentally to be hesitant.”
The Tigers generated six hits against the Bears but couldn’t get anyone home.
“We just aren’t executing the little things either when we need to get a bunt down we need to put the ball on the ground to advance the runner,” said Van Ackeren. “We just need to be able to execute what is being asked of us. For some of our kids, they made the moment too big. You are not going to get a big hit if the moment feels more important than it is.”
Van Ackeren credited Brown pitcher Alexis Guevara with coming up big in the circle for the Bears.
“She is not just a thrower, she moves the ball around,” said Van Ackeren. “She did a good job of adjusting from last weekend to what we saw from her today. We pressed a little bit and she took advantage of that.”
In the wake of the defeat, Van Ackeren was confident her players would adjust their approach.
“When nothing is guaranteed and you are one loss away from the end of the year, it can be very clarifying,” said Van Ackeren. “I think for some of them that is incredibly motivating. Tapping into that there can be a lot of energy and momentum that you can build from that back-against-the wall feeling. We will see what they do with it. I think if the right voices are loud and demanding in the circle, in the dugout and in the locker room, good things will happen.”
The Tigers did make good things happen on Friday as they defeated Harvard 5-1 in a loser’s bracket game, sparked by a sixth inning three-run homer by Sonia Zhang. On Saturday, Princeton stayed alive by rolling to a 10-1 win in five innings over Columbia to reach the final round of the tournament against Brown. Julia Dumais, Braeden Hale, Karis Ford, and Graciela Dominguez each had two RBIs to lead the offense while Cassidy Shaw was sharp in the circle, giving up just two hits in going the distance.
But needing to beat Brown twice to win the title, the Tigers couldn’t solve Guevara on Saturday afternoon as they managed just five hits in losing 4-1 to end their season. The defeat left Princeton, the Ivy regular season champion, with a final record of 28-18.