CU takes one of four against Princeton

The Columbia softball team (10-25, 2-10 Ivy) managed to take one of four games from Princeton (10-26, 4-8 Ivy) this past weekend.

The Lions went to extra innings for the first time this season in game one of the series last Saturday. Princeton got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the top of the second inning. Infielder Candace Button and right fielder Lizzy Pierce both scored unearned runs on a pair of Columbia errors. Princeton added another run in the third with center fielder Kelsey Quist’s solo home run to lead off the inning.

Columbia managed to rally in the bottom of the third when Alison Lam reached second base on a leadoff single and an error by Princeton left fielder Ellen Scott. Lam scored on Dani Pineda’s double to left center and came around to score when Scott committed her second error of the inning on Maggie Johnson’s hit. The Lions scored again in the fourth, as Stephanie Yagi’s leadoff walk was cashed in by two sacrifice bunts and Lam’s RBI single tied the game at 3-3.

Jamie Lettire hit Princeton’s second home run of the game to lead off the fifth inning, giving her team a 4-3 lead, but Kayla Lechler responded with a home run of her own with one out in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings. The Tigers scored a run in the top of the ninth inning, but after Pineda’s leadoff single in the bottom of the inning, Lechler hit her second walk-off home run of the year, and the Lions took game one 6-5. Maureen O’Kane pitched nine innings while allowing three earned runs.

Columbia lost the final three games of the series, including a 2-1 loss in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. Jennifer Bergeron scored a run in the bottom of the first inning to give her team an early lead, but Princeton answered with two runs in the sixth inning off Johnson, who threw seven innings and struck out two in the loss.

Jessica Rakonza allowed six earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in a game one loss on Sunday. The score was tied 2-2 until Princeton scored four runs in the top of the sixth. Columbia scored two in the bottom of the frame, but it eventually lost 6-4. Princeton won the final game of the series 6-2 behind seven innings from Lettire, who picked up her third win of the season.

The Lions face Rider in a doubleheader at home this Thursday starting at 3 p.m.