Allie Canulli Knocks In Five Runs In The Two Games

Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – In Saturday's second game against Cornell, the Yale softball team had 11 hits but scored only three runs. The Bulldogs were far more efficient Sunday against Princeton. Yale banged out 11 hits in both games but scored a total of 19 runs in a pair of victories. The Bulldogs cruised to an 11-2 win in the first game and then edged the Tigers 8-6 in the nightcap. It was the first time in school history that Yale swept a doubleheader from Princeton.

Allie Canulli and Christy Nelson helped lead the onslaught. Canulli knocked in five runs in the two games, while Nelson was 4-for-6 with three runs scored and four RBI.

Princeton (7-25, 1-7 Ivy) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the first game but it didn't last long. The Bulldogs sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six times in their half of the first. Nelson started the scoring with a single that scored Katie Yanagisawa. Canulli followed with a two-run single. After Meg Johnson walked and Kelsey Warkentine was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Jennifer Ong delivered a three-run double that made it 6-2.

Kayla Kuretich's RBI double in the second made it 7-2, and Canulli added a single that scored pinch-runner Virginia Waldrop.

Nelson's two-run single that scored Lexi Peacock and Ong in the third increased the advantage to 10-2.

The Bulldogs (8-17, 4-4 Ivy) capped the scoring in the fourth. Chelsea Janes laced a double down the left field line and scored on Warkentine's double to left.

Holly Gutterud pitched all five innings for Yale. She scattered five hits in earning her fourth win of the season.

The second game featured a little more drama. Canulli's two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning snapped a 6-6 tie. McKynlee Westman started the winning rally with a single to center and moved to second on Yanagisawa's sacrifice bunt. Ashley Sloan followed with a single and took second on the throw in. Liz Tutino then walked to load the bases, setting up Canulli's heroics.

Princeton threatened in the seventh against reliever Jackie Manzer. The Tigers had the bases loaded with two out, but Manzer struck out Megan Weidrick to end the game.

The Tigers again had an early lead after Kelsey Quist belted a two-run homer in the first.

This time it took the Bulldogs a little longer to catch up. Canulli scored on a throwing error to cut the deficit in half in the second inning, and Yale erupted for four runs in the third. Yanagisawa and Sloan led off with back-to-back singles, and Nelson followed with an RBI double. Johnson knocked in the second run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to right, and Mariclaire Rebman capped the rally with a clutch two-out, two-run single to left.

Sloan's RBI single in the fourth made it 6-2, but Princeton scored four times in the fifth to tie it.

Manzer, a freshman, struck out five in 2.2 innings of relief to earn her first career victory in the circle.

Sloan was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI to pace the offense. Nelson, Canulli and Westman all added two hits.

The Bulldogs are back in action on Wednesday when they play a doubleheader at Sacred Heart beginning at 3 p.m.

Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity

Video by Sam Dorward '13, Yale Sports Publicity: