It was a weekend of mixed results for the softball team, as the Red split doubleheaders with Yale on Friday and Brown on Saturday. Cornell now stands at 21-10 on the year, while its Ivy League record is 3-3.
Cornell showed flashes of brilliance over the weekend, however, the Red also struggled at times, giving up early leads, pitching tentatively, and going through long dry spells at the plate.
The Red opened Friday’s doubleheader against Yale with a tough 2-0 loss. Cornell gave up the two runs in the first inning. The Red had runners on second and third in seventh, but couldn’t come through with the clutch hit to tie the game. In game two, Cornell was helped largely to its 4-1 win by Yale’s six errors on the game.
“Yale made a bunch of errors to give us a chance in that game,” said head coach Dick Blood. “It wasn’t really like we hit our way into victory on that game.”
Things turned around for the team on Saturday against Brown, as the Red finally started hitting the ball, with 12 hits in game one and 14 hits in game two. Still the Red managed only to win game one, 12-3, coming up short in game two, losing 7-8 against the Bears.
Cornell was tied, 2-2, for much of game one, and was actually trailing, 3-2, going into the seventh. However, the Red blew the game open in the top of the seventh, scoring 10 runs on six hits, highlighted by junior Lauren May’s base-clearing triple.
The team almost pulled off another comeback victory in game two against Brown, tying the game, 7-7, in the top of the seventh. Yet the Bears answered right back in the bottom of the seventh with three hits and one run to give Brown the 8-7 victory.
Smith and senior Sarah Sterman pitched in both the doubleheaders this weekend for the Red, each looking sharp at times, while struggling at others.
“They both pitched well at times, but they struggled too with what I guess I’d call conservative pitching — getting a little too much in the middle of the plate,” Blood said. “I think we’re capable of better, but I also think we pitched pretty well.”
Blood was pleased with the offensive performance of senior Erin Sweeney, who went 6-for-9 on the weekend, and with the clutch performances of juniors May and Erin Kizer. Cornell’s defense also showed improvement, as the Red committed only two errors on the weekend.
“We played real sharp defense this weekend. We covered bunts well and the outfielders covered a lot of ground as well,” Blood said.
Archived article by Paul Testa
Sun Staff Writer