HALE AND HEARTY: Princeton University softball player Haley ­Hineman races down the line in a game last spring. Sophomore infielder Hineman is batting .333 this spring, helping Princeton to a 3-7 start. In upcoming action, the Tigers play in the Liberty Tournament from March 19-21 at Lynchburg, Va. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Even though the Princeton University softball started its season by losing four of five games at the Florida Atlantic tournament last month, the players displayed a spirit that could carry them to big things this spring.

“The girls came in and floored me with the culture and chemistry they have shown from the beginning,” said Princeton head coach Lisa (nee Sweeney) Van Ackeren.

“It started on the first weekend. Sometimes it takes a few weeks to develop but they were clearly excited to play and play for each other. We saw progress in each game; we analyzed what worked and what we needed to do differently and they did a good job with that.”

In its second weekend of play, Princeton did an even better job, going 2-2 at the University of Central Florida tournament with junior Skye Jerpbak and sophomore Haley Hineman triggering the offense as the Tigers posted a 9-1 win over Florida A&M and a 10-2 victory over Iowa while losing 3-2 to UCF and 5-4 to Long Island.

Jerpbak was named the Ivy League Player of the Week after hitting .636 on the tournament, going 7-for-11 with six RBIs, two doubles, a home run, and a walk. Hineman, for her part, went 5-for-8 with two runs and an RBI.

“Skye and Haley had outstanding weekends at UCF,” said Van Ackeren. “We did our offseason training on offense a little differently. We had a lot more live at-bats to get them into the right mindset at the plate. It was good to see it pay off. They had been cold the first weekend.”

Battle-tested seniors Rachel Rendina and Cara Worden had some good at-bats in the UCF with Rendina going 4- or-14 with 2 RBIs and Worden hitting 4-for-13 with four runs, three RBIs, and a homer.

“If runners are on base and it is a clutch situation, you want them up,” said Van Ackeren.

“Rendina is one of the grittiest and toughest hitters and Cara is the same way. You can just look in Cara’s eyes and see that she is going to come through.”

Freshman Kylee Pierce has come through in a table-setter role at the top of the Princeton lineup.

“Kylee has gone unnoticed in the two-hole,” said Van Ackeren, whose team fell 6-5 to Maryland last Monday to drop to 3-7 on the season.

“She is incredible in her ability to execute the situational game. She will hit that grounder to move up the runners. She might not have a hit in the box score but that is very important.”

As for pitching, freshman Ashley LaGuardia has been an important addition to the Tigers. LaGuardia shared Ivy Rookie of the Week and Pitcher of the Week honors for her work in the UCF tourney where she threw 13 2/3 innings, appearing in all four games while picking up a win over Florida A&M and posting a 2.05 ERA.

“Ashley is a tiny thing, 5’3 or 5’4, but she throws hard; she is a Jersey kid so she comes with that toughness,” said Van Ackeren of the Wayne, N.J native who has thrown 37 of the team’s 65 innings this spring.

“She was nervous about her first weekend as any freshman is but once she realized it is the same game, she settled down. We told her we needed her to pitch a lot of innings with some of the injuries we have had and she was happy to do it. She is the kind of pitcher who get better the more she throws.”

Van Ackeren is hoping the Tigers will get better and better as they wrap up a busy spring break week by competing in the Liberty Tournament from March 19-21 at Lynchburg, Va.

“We have so many games coming up over the break; I anticipate that all five pitchers will throw some innings,” said Van Ackeren, whose mound corps also includes junior Shanna Christian, senior Meredith Brown, sophomore Claire Klausner, and sophomore Erica Nori.

“They all bring something different to the table, which is great. I want the pitchers to be a little bit tougher on the mound; when it is bases loaded with two outs, to get that final out. We want good offensive production; I am looking for us to be batting even better.”