The Cornell women’s softball team opens its 20th Ivy League season with two games this weekend. The Red will kick off its Ancient Eight matchups on Saturday with a 12:30 doubleheader against Yale and continue into Sunday with two games beginning at 12:30 against Brown.
The Red comes into this season striving for its fifth consecutive division title and fourth straight Ivy League South Division championship. After a jam-packed spring break — with fourteen games in a mere 8 days — the women come into league play with a 10-12 overall record. Although Cornell lost its first league game of the season last year, its overall record of 186-99 in Ivy League play is promising as the women prepare to begin the season.
The Bulldogs begin the Ivy League season with a record of 3-13 with a new head coach in Jen Goodwin at the helm of the team. The Bears head into league play with a 6-8 record behind first-year head coach Katie Flynn. Brown senior Stephanie Thompson is coming off a season in which she was named an All-American and she is also leading the team’s offense so far with a .414 batting average.
Head coach Dick Blood enters his eighteenth year with the softball team and is the single most successful coach in the history of Cornell athletics for a single sport. Blood enters the season with 577 wins under his belt and five conference crowns.
After going on a five-game skid over spring break against some tough competition, the Red has bounced back and is now on a two-game win streak after a sweep of Manhattan College. One of the victories came in dramatic fashion, as the squad came from behind to win in extra innings off an RBI single by Christina Villalon in the ninth.
Junior Lauren Bucolo has also been on a hot streak as of late, hitting .500 in her last eight games. Her strong production on offense in the past week earned her Co-Ivy League Player of the Week honors.
Original Author: Anna Fasman