PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania softball team earned its first Ivy League win of the season with a 6-3 victory in game one of the Sunday doubleheader. The Tigers earned a split with a 3-1 win in game two. Freshman pitcher
Kelly Zybura earned her second win of the season as she limited the Tigers to just one run over the first six innings of game one.
Payton Bean was perfect the first time through the Tigers lineup sending down nine straight Princeton batters to open game two before the visitors took a 1-0 lead their second time through the lineup.
Sarah Schneider and
Danica Larwill accounted for four of Penn's six RBI in game one.
With two stolen bases in the second game,
Brianna Brown edges out former teammate
Emma Nedley for 10th all-time in program history with 22 career stolen bases.
FINAL: Penn 6, Princeton 3
Princeton scored in its first and last at-bat in the opening game. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first but
Kelly Zybura settled in as she pitched five scoreless innings before Princeton added runs in the seventh.
The Quaker bats came alive in the fourth inning as
Katie Reagan,
Alyssa Pope, and
Danica Larwill strung together three straight two-out RBI hits to put the home team up 4-1.
Reagan put the Quakers on the board with an RBI base hit to left.
Pope dropped an RBI double into center to give the Quakers their first lead of the series.
Larwill found a spot just inside the first base line to put the home team up 4-1.
Sarah Schneider extended the Quaker lead to 6-1 with a two-run shot over the left field wall for her third homer of the season.
After getting into some trouble and allowing a pair of runs to cross the plate in the top of the seventh,
Rachel Riley took over in the circle for Zybura to get the final two outs. After walking her first batter she faced, Riley settled down to get a strikeout looking and a pop up to short to record the first save of her career and the first home and Ivy League win of 2023.
FINAL: Princeton 3, Penn 1
Game two was a pitchers' duel as a
Brianna Brown base hit to lead off the bottom of the first was the only hit between the two teams over the first three innings. Brown extended her successful stolen base streak to 12 in the first inning. Two innings later, Brown made it a perfect 13-for-13 in stolen bases after reaching on an error.
Payton Bean pitched a 1-2-3 top of the first that was highlighted by a diving catch in foul territory by
Sammy Fenton to end the top of the first.
Just as they had done in the first two games of the series, the Tigers struck first plating a run on a two out infield hit that scored the runner from second.
The Quakers quickly responded in the bottom of the fourth. Pope hit a fly ball to right that popped in and out of the right fielder's glove and allowed
Sammy Fenton to score on the play.
Penn threatened to take a lead in the bottom of the fifth as
Delaney Smith lead off with a walk and
Blake Landow came on to pinch run for her. Landow stole second and with one out Brown hit an infield single to third, putting runners on first and second with one out.
Madison Bauerle sent a base hit to center and it looked as if the Quakers were going to have bases loaded with one out but Landow was thrown out at third as she retreated to second thinking the ball was going to be caught. The inning came to an end as the Tigers got an inning ending ground out to third.
After
Payton Bean sent Princeton down in order in the top of the sixth, Penn threatened with a pair of two-out runners on an infield hit and a walk. The Tigers got out of the inning on a strikeout swinging.
With one out in the top of the seventh, Princeton took the lead on an RBI double to center. After a pitching change, the visitors added an insurance run on a SAC fly to center. Following a base hit and walk, Zybura got out of the inning with a fielder's choice.
Princeton pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh to hold on for the doubleheader split and the series win.
QUAKER NOTEMEAL
- In game one, Kelly Zybura allowed three runs on nine hits while walking two in 6.1 innings for her second victory of the season. In game two, the freshman right hander allowed just a single hit and a walk while allowing no runs as she came on to get the final two outs of the seventh inning.
- Brianna Brown extended her stolen base streak to a perfect 13-for-13 as she had two stolen bases in game two. She now sits in a tie with Sydney Turchin (2013) for 13 stolen bases in a single season.
- Sarah Schneider's two-run shot in game one was her third of the season and the 16th of her career moving her into a tie with Jessica Melendez (2010-13) for the sixth most in program history. Two more and she will tie Brooke Coloma (2010-13) and Alisha Prystowsky (2008-11) for fifth most.
- With the game one victory over the Tigers on Sunday, Penn ended a four-game losing streak to Princeton as it last picked up a victory over its rivals in a five-inning run rule win in game two of the double header in 2019 at Penn Park ending in a 14-5 victory.
- Penn is now 25-20 against Princeton since 2010.
- Six runs in game one on Sunday was the most since the Quakers strung together six or more runs in a three game span against Harvard (3/19) and Maryland Eastern Shore (3/22).
- Riley's save in game one was the first Penn save since Payton Bean earned the save in a 3-2 victory over Drexel on April 20, 2022.
UP NEXT
The Red and Blue are back in action on Tuesday as they make the trip over to Villanova for a midweek game. First pitch between the Quakers and Wildcats is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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