Opening up its season, the Cornell softball team traveled down to Virginia Beach for the Dixie Championship. Although the team got off to a very slow start on Friday, going 0-2, it came back to win the consolation championship with a 3-1 record on Saturday. Seniors Nicole Zitarelli and Charlotte Brombach were all-tournament selections.
The Red opened up the tournament with a 2-0 loss to powerhouse Virginia Tech. In this contest, Zitarelli struck out six batters and allowed only six hits. Virginia Tech’s only score came from Megan Wiley on a two-run double.
This loss was followed up by an 8-2 loss to Akron later Friday night.
Freshman Kate Varde began her Cornell career quickly nailing a two-run homer in the fourth inning of the Akron game to tie the score. However, the Zips scored six unanswered runs and easily took the game.
On the mound, freshman Sarah Sterman allowed seven runs over four innings. In relief, Zitarelli allowed one run, while Jamie Hamilton pitched a scoreless 1.2 innings to end the game.
Saturday, the Red came back from its 0-2 record to post a 3-1 record, defeating Elon, Marist and Delaware in the final. Its sole loss came to Radford by a score of 3-1.
In the 4-0 shutout of Delaware, Zitarelli allowed three hits and no walks to win the game. Offensively, senior Allison Batten and Varde each had one RBI in the third inning, while Erin Sweeney drove in Kristen Hricenak in the fourth. The final run came from Brombach, who scored on a wild pitch.
The Red will return to the road next weekend as they travel to Drexel on Saturday at 1 p.m. en route to St. Joseph’s on Sunday at 12 p.m.
Archived article by Kristen Haunss