"Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jack"

So from what famous song does this lyric come?:

On a Saturday her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go
To see a show, but Miss Kate said "No,
I'll tell you what you can do:"

Give up? 

The next line is "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." Perhaps you've heard it? 

The song was written in 1908 by two composers — Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer — who had never, in fact, seen a baseball game prior to writing it. The inspiration apparently came from a sign advertising a game at the Polo Grounds that Norworth saw while riding on the New York City subway.

Why has TigerBlog started there on this Tuesday morning? It's because there are two Princeton teams who can be forgiven for humming the most famous verse in their sport.

The Princeton baseball and softball teams will see their seasons continue beyond the end of the regular season, which came for both this past weekend. TigerBlog will start with the softball team.

Princeton won itself an Ivy League championship Saturday afternoon, and the host role for this week's Ivy League tournament, in about the most dramatic way imaginable. In fact, the ending was more reminiscent of the end of "Casey At The Bat," though with a happier ending.

Much like the Mudville Nine that day, Princeton trailed 4-2 with but one inning more to play. And then, also like Mudville, Princeton found itself with two on and two out. 

Unlike Casey, though, Lauren Sablone did not strike out. And, as such, there was great joy in Princeton.

Sablone, down to her final strike, rocketed the ball over the leftfield fence, making the final score 5-4 Princeton. How long did it take Sablone to circle the bases? 

TigerBlog timed it. He came up with 12.3 seconds. Even if it's give or take a tenth of a second here or there, Sablone clearly wanted to get back to where the celebration was starting.

Walk Off Championship Moment.
Your Ivy Player of the Week 🤫https://t.co/VUYA0yA1Cw pic.twitter.com/gSo8cvr8Gp

— Princeton Softball (@PUSoftball) May 6, 2024

 Had she gone the way of Casey, Princeton would not have won a share of the Ivy title, and the Ivy tournament would not be in Princeton. In fact, it would have been at Yale.

Princeton will begin the ILT on its home field tomorrow (that's a change in date due to the weather forecast) at 5 against Dartmouth, while Harvard and Yale will play in the opening game of the double-elimination event at 2:30. Princeton earned a share of the Ivy championship, making it the 22nd overall and third straight for the program.

The baseball team, on the other hand, was playing this past weekend to get into the Ivy tournament. Columbia had already clinched the league championship and host role, but the Tigers went into the weekend in second place. 

At the same time, Princeton, even with just three games left, had not yet clinched its ILT spot. And doing so wouldn't be easy, not with the three at Columbia.

Princeton had a single game Friday and then two Saturday. The drama never made it to the weekend.

First, Dartmouth knocked off Penn, which meant that Princeton now needed only one win in the three games or one more Penn loss to get its spot. 

And whom should the Tigers rely on for the clincher, Dartmouth ... or Jacob Faulkner? The answer was clear.

Princeton's Will Sword started the first game at Columbia and went into the third inning without allowing a run. With the Tigers up 1-0, Scott Bradley went to Faulkner, who has been amazing all season. Scratch that. He's been the keystone of the entire team all season.

And now, with the season on the line, he came through once again. Faulkner would go the rest of the way and not allow a run until the ninth, by which time the Tigers were up 4-0. Even though the ninth was the only inning in which Columbia would score, it was also in many ways Faulkner's most impressive inning.

Faulkner allowed a lead-off walk and then, after getting a ground out, saw the shutout vanish with a two-run home run. Suddenly things were dicey. 

How would he respond? He got another out and allowed two singles. On the ropes, but not out, he finally ended things with a fly ball.

Faulkner is now 7-1 with four saves as he has anchored, and held together, an injury-riddled pitching staff. 

Columbia swept the doubleheader Saturday, and Penn swept Dartmouth as well, which shows you how important that win Friday was. The Tigers will now wait an extra week for the start of the baseball tournament, which will take the team back to Columbia next week.