After splitting its first four games against Ivy league competition, the softball team will be facing Dartmouth and Harvard on the road this weekend. The Red (12-14, 2-2 Ivy League) will first take on Dartmouth on Friday, Apr. 5 in Hanover, NH and then move on to battle Harvard on Saturday in Cambridge, Mass.
The upcoming games against Dartmouth and Harvard will be a challenge, but senior Erin Belles is confident that the Red will come ready to play.
“So far, we opened with two losses that were kind of disappointing in Ivy League play against Yale, but we were able to rebound and beat Brown and now we are in a little bit of a better position,” Belles said.
The squad is coming off of successful back-to-back wins against Brown this past Sunday and Monday. The Red defeated the Bears at home 8-5 on Monday night when junior Jenny Edwards went 3-for-3 with two homeruns, helping Cornell pick up its first Ivy League win of 2013. Senior Erin Belles and freshman Meg Parker also went deep. Junior pitcher Alyson Onyon allowed five hits in six innings, only giving up one run.
The next day, looking for a second win against Brown, the Red took an early lead off of a two run homerun by Belles. Junior Christina Villalon added on to the team’s big first inning with a grand slam, helping the Red jump out to a 7-0 lead and an eventual 9-6 victory over the Bears.
“We performed better against Brown than we did against Yale, so that will be good looking forward,” Belles said.
Last season, the Red swept Dartmouth and split its series with Harvard. In a 4-2 win over the Green last year, Edwards was once again the hero, smacking a three-run homerun to left field in the fifth inning, propelling her team to victory.
According to Belles, it will be important for the Red to take each game on its own if it hopes to continue the success it had against Brown earlier in the week.
“Every win, no matter which team it’s against, only counts for one win in the standings, so [we] need to do our best in every single situation,” she said.
Original Author: Marissa Velasquez