After taking three out of four games from Penn in Philadelphia, Pa., the Red will play host to Columbia this weekend for a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday.With the near-sweep last weekend, the Red now stands at an impressive 24-11, and remains atop the Ivy League South Division with a 10-2 conference record. The Lions, on the other hand, find themselves struggling in the bottom of the standings with a 2-10 record.
For those who missed the news, junior Elizabeth Dalrymple threw the eighth no-hitter in Cornell history against Penn on Sunday. Pitching the full seven innings, she struck out eight batters and was two walks away from a perfect game. League officials named her Ivy League Pitcher of the Week for her strong performance against the Quakers.
Dalrymple should have no trouble maintaining her dominant Ivy League play against the Lions. On the season, she is 6-0 with a 1.79 ERA against Ivy League opponents. She has struck out at least eight batters in every conference contest, and sits in fourth place on the university’s all-time strikeout list with 387.
On the other side of the spectrum, the Lions strugglingpitching staff has failed to dominate the opposition during its Ivy League contests. All of its pitchers have at least twice as many losses as wins, and they all combine to have a 4.47 ERA. The ace of Columbia’s starters, Maureen O’ Kane, currently has a 4-10 record with a 3.60 ERA. And of course, her 37 season strikeouts pale in comparison to Dalrymple’s 143.
Speaking of strikeouts, it is wroth mentioning that this week’s Ivy League Player of the Week senior Alyson Inthihar has struck out only once in 126 total at bats. She tops the league in not striking out, and leads Cornell with a .405 batting average. Collectively, the Red is hitting .307, which, if the season ended today, would rank it fifth on the all-time Cornell list.
Columbia, on the other hand, has a .274 batting average as a team, with only 13 home runs in 35 contests. The Lions have gone 2-8 in their past 10 games, despite putting up an average of 4.10 runs in that span.
The Red has taken 13 out of the last 15 games against Columbia, and are also 19-1 on the season when playing at Nieman Robinson Field.Before Sunday’s 12:30 start, the Cornell will hold a ceremony honoring its seniors. These players are are Ashley Garvey, Alyson Intihar, Vanessa Leonhard, Devon March, Elise Menaker and Izzy Pines.
Original Author: Jonathan Shtaynberger