Princeton High Softball Seeks First Season Win

If a  positive attitude is a good place for a team to start, then the 2011 Princeton High School softball team is off to a great start.

Princeton was 8-17 last year and defeated in the first round of the state tournament.

But Princeton Coach Craig Haywood knows his team is better than that.

"Last year we faced Wall in the first round of states," Haywood noted. "I would love to meet up with them again at some point this season. I know we can not only give them a better game, I believe we can beat them."

Haywood believes that is true about a lot of teams on the schedule. He said Princeton is a better softball team and is eager to prove that fact.

"We know we can improve on our record from last year," Haywood said.

One reason behind Haywood's confidence in his team's improvement is that so many girls are returning and continue to become better players. 

"We only graduated three seniors, so a majority of our team is back from last season," he said. "We have 10 players returning that were on varsity last year." 

Princeton features a trio of pitchers, including senior captain Jenna Noel Panconi. Sophomore Charlotte Gray and freshman Jessica Campesi are the others.

The  other members of the team are Madison Cahill-Sanidas, Bryne Fahey, Emily Lidstone, Hannah Zink, Kristen Duncan, Helen Eisenach, Marisa Gonzalez, Angela Matcham, Charlotte Heller, Pamela Ramrirez, Louise Eisenach, Hannah Gutierrez, Kristen Rinehart and Nisha Datt. 

"We do have some girls that have been hitting well this spring, so, hopefully, that will carry over into the regular season," Haywood said. "But we also expect to grind out a lot of close games. The biggest thing for us is to not make errors. If we can keep our errors low, we can compete with anyone." 

Dave Boehm and Andrea Dinan are the assistant coaches. Dinan also serves as the head coach for the JV team.

Princeton provided a great deal of offense in its first two games, but was unable to register a win.

Princeton lost to Notre Dame, 11-5, on Apr. 4.

Cahill-Sanidas had a two-run triple for Princeton. 

Princeton was defeated by Hopewell, 10-7, on Apr. 6.

Gonzalez had three hits and  two run scored for Princeton. Emily Lidstone had three hits. Cahill-Sanidas added two hits and a run scored.

"Last season was the first time Princeton had ever made the state tournament," Haywood said. "Even though we lost that first-round game, we learned a lot. With the young team that we had last year, they are excited about this season and a chance to hopefully improve on last season's record and also on last year's state tournament showing."

 He believes now is the time to transfer that confidence into some wins.