Princeton University

The Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament will be awarded this weekend when top-seeded Princeton hosts Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth in the Ivy League tournament that begins Wednesday at Princeton Softball Stadium at Strubing Field.

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Schedule: The tournament schedule has been adjusted due to expected weather. On Wednesday, Yale and Harvard leave at 2:30 PM before Princeton and Dartmouth start at about 5:00 PM. On Thursday, Wednesday's two winning teams and Wednesday's two losing teams are scheduled, time to be determined, with the surviving team from the match of the two losing teams from the first match and the losing team from the winner's contest on Friday at a time to be determined. The final remains on the program on Saturday at 12 noon, after which the match may follow.

Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament: Last season saw the first edition of the current version of the Ivy League Tournament, with three of this year's four teams also playing Princeton, Harvard and Yale, with Dartmouth replacing Columbia took. Columbia defeated top-seeded Princeton to open the tournament, and Princeton won three in a row against Yale, Columbia, and Harvard to force the if-needed matchup against the Crimson, which Harvard won to get the NCAA bid.

Princeton vs. the Ivy Tournament Teams in 2024: Princeton faced the three other Ivy Tournament teams on consecutive weekends in April, taking one of Harvard's three on the road, beating Dartmouth at home and Yale on the road to take over first place in the ivy. The 4-2 record against Harvard and Yale allowed Princeton to host the Ivy Tournament, with these three teams each finishing 14-7. Yale swept Harvard and won 3-3 vs. Harvard and Princeton, and Harvard won 2-4 against Yale and Princeton.

vs. Harvard: Lauren Sablon hit .400 (4-10) during the series, but the Crimson outscored Princeton .409 to .267 over the weekend. Sonia Zhang, Julia Dumais And Allie Goodwin each hit .333 (3-9). Brielle Wright led the Tigers in innings pitched, after 7 1/3 innings, with Cassidy Shaw Roll 5 2/3, win, and Molly Chambers And Meghan Harrington 2 2/3 each. Lael Ayala (.600, 3-5), Savannah Fitzpatrick (.545, 6-11), Sophie Sun (.500, 5-10), Lauren Bobowski (.455, 5-11), Maya Douglas (.400, 4-10) and Audrey Szollosi (.400, 2-5) each hit .400 or better for the Crimson, and Anna Reed (4.38, 8.0 IP, 0-1) and Nicolette Hunter (1.17, 6.0 IP, 2-0 ) pitched the majority of the innings for the Crimson, with Katie Arrambide (4.50, 4.2 IP) and Riley Flynn (26.25, 1.1 IP) splitting the remainder of the innings in the circle.

vs. Dartmouth: Princeton hit .449 as a team in the Dartmouth series with Lauren Sablon going 7 for 8 (.875), Sophia Marsalo Hitting .750 (6-8), Grace Jackson (3-6) and Karis Ford (1-2) each hitting .500, Cat Bade Hitting .429 (3-7) and Julia Dumais Hitting .400 (4-10). All four regular Tiger Arms pitched between four and seven innings Molly Chambers And Brielle Wright each four scoreless innings and each wins a victory, Meghan Harrington Going 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA, and Cassidy Shaw four innings (7.00 ERA). Rachel McCarroll pitched all 16 innings (0-3, 8.75 ERA) for the Big Green, while Cwen Wilson, Mary Beth Cahalan and Alaana Panu each went 3-8 for a .375 average.

vs. Yale: Princeton saw Sonia Zhang hit .677 (6-9) against the Bulldogs with Cat Bade going 4-7 (.571) and Julia Dumais he went 5-10 (.500) as Princeton defeated Yale .318 to .224. Cassidy Shaw had a strong weekend, going 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA over 8 2/3 innings. Molly Chambers (0-0, 3.0IP, 4.67), Brielle Wright (1-0, 4.2 IP, 6.00) and Meghan Harrington (0-0, 4.2 IP, 6.00) split the remaining innings. Carolyn Skotz hit .556 (5-9) for the Bulldogs with Sophie Woodridge at .500 (4-8). Meredith Henderson had a 1.11 ERA over 6 1/3 innings in the circle, with Emma Taylor throwing 11 innings (0-2, 6.36) and Hannah Turner pitching 3 2/3 (0-1, 13.36, 3 2/3 IP ).

Princeton in the NCAA Tournament: If the Tigers secure the Ivy League's automatic bid, it would be Princeton's 12th trip to the NCAAs and fourth among Lisa Van Ackeren, which would tie her with Maureen Barron for the most NCAA bids as coach at Princeton. Princeton's previous bids under Van Ackeren were in 2016, 2017 and most recently in 2022.

Saves record: Brielle Wright has eight saves this season and nine for her career. She already holds the single-season record at Princeton and is tied for the program record with Riley Wilkinson '19. She also holds the Ivy single-season record, coming one shy of the Ivy career record of 10, co-held by Harvard alumnae Rachel Brown (2009-12) and Katie Duncan (2016-19).

Wins: With 26 wins, Princeton has the fourth most wins among Lisa Van Ackerenwinning 29 games in 2023 and 27 each in 2013 and 2022. With as many as four wins this weekend, if Princeton reaches 30 wins it would be the program's most since a 34-win season in 2006.

Next: The winning team of the Ivy League Tournament will hear its name called during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, taking place Sunday at 8 PM ET on ESPN2.