Softball Team Wins Back-to-Back Ivy Titles, Sweeping Harvard in ILCS

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Last year, the Princeton softball team became the first team in Ivy League Championship Series history, which goes back to 2007, to win the title on the road, taking two of three from Harvard.

This year, the Tigers had to make sure the Crimson didn't return the favor.

Gutting out a 1-0 win with a seventh-inning Allison Harvey RBI single in the opener and outslugging the Crimson 13-4 in game two, Princeton claimed its Ivy-best 19th league championship, its third ILCS title and its 10th NCAA tournament bid by sweeping the ILCS Saturday at the Class of 1895 Field.

The back-to-back Ivy titles and NCAA bids are Princeton's first since 2005 and 2006, and it also made coach Lisa Van Ackeren the third coach in Ivy League history to win two Ivy titles in her first five seasons, joining Princeton predecessors Cindy Cohen and Maureen Barron.

Princeton will learn its NCAA tournament destination next Sunday, May 14 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The 64 teams that make the NCAA regionals will head to 16 sites for a double-elimination tournament May 19-21.

Game 1 Highlights

Both teams let chances slip in Saturday's opener, but Princeton was the first to convert. Haley Hineman led off the seventh with a single before Alex Viscusi followed with a walk. Though Harvard then got the first out of the inning on a flyout, a failed fielder's choice loaded the bases for Harvey, who lined one into right field to pick up Hineman for the win.

Making her final start at '95 Field, Claire Klausner struck out eight while keeping Harvard off the board for her third shutout of the season. Klausner stranded five runners in scoring position. Kathleen Duncan took the loss for the Crimson.

Game 2 Highlights

The Tigers didn't wait to put runs on the board in the nightcap, with Kaylee Grant's two-run double in the first giving Princeton a lead they never relinquished. Princeton pushed it to 3-0 in the third on a Keeley Walsh RBI single before adding three more in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead. Harvey had a run-scoring double before Reynolds doubled home two more in that inning.

Harvard, though, made a comeback. Olivia Giaquinto had a solo homer in the fourth to pull the Crimson within 6-1, and a Maddy Kaplan sacrifice fly and a two-run Erin Lockhart homer made it 6-4 for Princeton in the fifth.

But, Princeton allowed the Crimson no closer. A Grant two-run single, a Walsh run-scoring hit and a throwing error allowed Princeton to score four times in the sixth to push the lead to 10-4, and RBI singles from Reynolds, Walsh and Danielle Dockx grew the lead to 13-4 in the seventh.

Erica Nori, also making her final '95 Field start picked up the win after five innings of work and along with two innings of shutout relief from Riley Wilkinson. Taylor Cabe took the loss for Harvard.

Walsh and Megan Donahey each went 3 for 5 in game two while Reynolds was 2 for 2 with three RBI.

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