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Softball: BC graduate Schaus leads Princeton into NCAA Tournament
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Kristen Schaus is looking beyond the numbers.
Four years at Princeton will do that.
“They say it’s been a struggle for me,” the Barron Collier grad-turned Ivy League Pitcher of the Year said of her senior season. “I don’t look at it that way at all.”
Sure, the 10-15 record isn’t exactly eye-popping. Ditto the 4.06 ERA.
But the 2008 season — the one that saw Schaus pass former teammate Erin Snyder for most strikeouts in program history — has been far more rewarding than any of her previous, if more decorated, campaigns.
“I think about it all the time,” she said, “how it would have been great to have an easy year. I have to laugh at that now. Everything I wanted — going to the NCAAs, winning (the Ivy League Championship Series), breaking the strikeout record — it’s all happened. I’ve had more dominating seasons, but this has all contributed to my maturity. I’ve grown so much as a person this year, and I’ve learned a lot about myself just trying to get through it.”
The same might be said of the Tigers (25-22), who after starting the season a woeful 3-17, have rebounded by winning 22 of 27 to win the Ivy League and earn a spot in this weekend’s NCAA regional in Amherst, Mass.
Third-seeded Princeton will face No. 2 Massachusetts (39-11) at 5 p.m. today in the first game of a double-elimination, four-team bracket that also includes top-seed Stanford (46-12) and Lehigh (38-15-1). The winner will advance to next week’s super regionals.
It’s the third such postseason trip for Schaus, who admitted this might be the most rewarding, considering the slow start under former assistant turned first-year head coach Trina Salcido.
Plus, the history major spent much of her senior year working on a 90-page thesis on the influence of organized crime in 20th century sports.
“I’ve been so challenged each day to think, ‘OK, this is a new day,’ ” she said. “You’re thinking about your future, trying to write this book thing, while at the same time, our team got as low as it gets. We’re really a new team now, and I think getting through it all, for me, is more of an accomplishment than dominating. It’s been an invaluable experience.”
Schaus said the Tigers are far from satisfied, though.
She’s confident, if she hits her spots, that they can upend both the Minutewomen and the Cardinal, a team that pounded the Tigers 10-0 for what was the unchallenged low point of the season back on March 22.
The renewed focus means that the 5-foot-10 right-hander is likely to add to her school-record 824 strikeouts, and, maybe, her 52 career wins.
Whatever happens, Schaus has already etched her name throughout the Princeton record books, ranking among the program’s best in victories (tied for fourth), starts (second with 102) and innings pitched (second with 648 1/3), plus tossing a pair of no-hitters and having been named All-Ivy in each of her four seasons.
“This was the best place for me,” the 22-year-old said. “I won’t have the opportunity to play softball for a career, but having a degree from here, it’s this defining thing. I’m really proud of the degree, what I’ve been able to accomplish balancing softball and school. I’ve learned a lot about myself on all fronts, and I’m honored to have been a part of (Princeton) for four years.”
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