Softball Hits the Road to Take on League-Leading Princeton

DARTMOUTH (5-19, 1-2) at PRINCETON (11-10, 5-1)
April 2-3, 2022 • Princeton Softball Stadium at Strubing Field • Princeton N.J.

Taking on Ivy Leader
Dartmouth takes to the road this weekend for three games against the Ivy League's leader, Princeton. The Tigers are also the only team in the conference with an overall winning record, having won 10 of their last 12 since dropping eight straight.

The Big Green split a mid-week doubleheader with Holy Cross, taking the first game, 4-1, before dropping the nightcap, 5-0. Mary Beth Cahalan drove in two runs with a single and Alaana Panu capped the four-run third with her first career home run, a two-run shot, to provide all of the offense in the win. Brooke Plonka, meanwhile, struck out eight without walking a batter in going the distance in the circle.

In the second game, the Dartmouth bats managed just three hits — one each from Cahalan, Leila Hennessy and Kate Farren — against the Holy Cross ace, and the Crusaders broke open a scoreless duel in the fourth with three runs, which were all they needed.

Overall Record vs. Princeton
• Since the first official varsity season in 1995, Dartmouth is 24-28 against the Tigers.
• The Big Green have had plenty of success recently against Princeton, however, winning 14 of the last 15 meetings dating back to 2013.
• At Princeton, Dartmouth is 10-17 with eight of those wins in the last 11 matchups.

Last Time Against the Tigers
Way back in 2019, the Big Green swept the three-game series from Princeton in Hanover. But it took some late-game heroics to earn the victory in the opener as Dartmouth rallied from a 4-1 deficit with a seven-run sixth, then held on for an 8-6 triumph. Morgan Ebow, Calista Almer and Micah Schroder each had a two-run single in the stanza to lift the Green and make a winner out of Brooke Plonka in relief.

Even though the Tigers started game two with two runs, it quickly turned the Big Green's way in a 12-4 game that ended after five frames. Schroder went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a triple shy of the cycle, Taylor Ward launched a three-run bomb and Morgan Martinelli ended the game with her two-run blast in the fifth. Shelby Wilkison earned the victory, scattering nine hits over 4.2 innings.

The series finale was a tight 1-0 affair with a Tatyanah Castillo home run to lead off the fifth the only tally of the contest. Madie Augusto was credited with her fourth win while Brooke Plonka picked up her fourth save.

Scouting Princeton
• The Tigers have been on a roll, winning 10 of their last 12 games, sweeping Brown at home before taking two of three at Harvard last weekend.
• Princeton is averaging 4.5 runs per game during this 12-game stretch while allowing just 2.0 with a pair of shutouts.
• The offense features a balanced attack with five hitters owning a batting average between .275 and .300, but Adrienne Chang is the heavy hitter with a .397 average and two of the team's six home runs.
• Alexis Laudenslager (5-6, 2.50) and Ali Blanchard (4-2, 3.30) will be the starters this weekend. The former has a little better control, but the latter has more strikeouts.
• The Tigers are third in the league in fielding percentage (.966), matching Dartmouth for fewest errors (19).

What's Up Next
Dartmouth will begin a seven-game homestand with a non-conference doubleheader against Hartford on April 6. The two teams have not met in a decade, and the Big Green are 3-7 all-time against the Hawks (though all three wins are in the last three meetings).

Speaking of Renewing a Rivalry …
When the Big Green hosted Holy Cross on March 30, somehow it was the first time in 20 years that the two had met on the softball diamond. It was also the first time Dartmouth hosted the Crusaders since 1996! A Big Green sweep would have evened the all-time series, but with a loss in game two, Dartmouth is now 3-5 against Holy Cross.

Complete Game
In the 4-1 win over Holy Cross, senior Brooke Plonka went the distance for her sixth complete game of the season and 11th of her career in 24 starts. Those six complete games are twice as many as any Big Green starter had in the last complete season (2019). And the last Dartmouth pitcher with more than six complete games in a season was Breanna Ethridge with 17 in 2017.

Panu Power
Freshman Alaana Panu demonstrated her power stroke against Holy Cross by belting her first career home run, a no-doubter over the fence in left-center field. She also leads the team with four doubles, and now is the fourth player with a four-bagger on her ledger.

Hailin' Cahalan
After missing 11 games, sophomore Mary Beth Cahalan has been a welcome addition back in the lineup. In her first game back, on the very first pitch she saw, she cranked a two-run home run to give Dartmouth a 2-1 lead in the series finale against Yale en route to a 10-3 victory. She then produced the go-ahead two-run single in the first game against Holy Cross to help the Green win, 4-1. In the three games since her return, she is 4-for-8 with a home run, two runs and four RBIs.

Offensive Outburst
Dartmouth pushed a season-high 10 runs across the plate in the series finale against Yale, salvaging a game from the Bulldogs, 10-3. Those 10 runs bested its previous best set just the day prior in the 8-7 loss to Yale. All told, the Big Green hit five home runs in the series after smacking just one in the first 19 contests. Kate Farren cranked two homers in the opener, the first Dartmouth player with a multi-homer game since Micah Schroder went yard twice in a 9-7 loss to Harvard on April 13, 2019.

Schedules