Cornell women’s softball (4-20, 1-7 Ivy) suffered four defeats over the weekend in series against Brown (16-11, 5-3) and Yale (11-21, 4-4). Despite the losses, the Red has been playing better softball of late with recent wins against Harvard (16-13, 6-2) and George Mason (16-16, 3-5 A10).
“We didn’t take care of business,” said head coach Julie Farlow.
The South Division of the Ivy League is weak this year, with all four teams below .500. Cornell could conceivably jump up a few spots in the standings fairly easily, but wins have come at a premium this year for the Red.
The team could have made up lost ground, but Cornell failed to capitalize on an opportunity in the battles with Brown and Yale.
“The outcome was disappointing since we could have really helped ourselves with a couple of wins,” Farlow said. “The South Division has so much parity that even after the losses at Brown, we could have bumped ahead of Penn and Columbia with some wins at Yale.”
Cornell lost 8-4 and 8-0 at Brown, then went on to fall 9-2 and 3-1 to Yale in the ensuing series.
Still, there were some bright spots for the Red over the weekend.
“[Senior] Meg Parker is leading the way offensively and has been consistent for us,” Farlow said. “She’s also doing a great job on the mound even though the W-L results don’t show it.”
In the infield, sophomore Rebecca Kubena had a hit and a RBI in the first game against Yale, while also making impressive plays in the field.
“Rebecca has been a nice burst in our line-up, adding more power than she’s had in the past,” Farlow said.
The Red has looked better offensively this season than they have defensively, Farlow noted.
“Defensively, we’re streaky,” he said. “Some days we look fine and other days we have difficulty making routine plays.”
One positive for the Red has been the emergence of sophomore outfielder Zoe Hernandez.
“[Zoe] has been a huge help in the outfield and is playing very well out there,” Farlow said.
Although the Red would have liked to develop better run support, Cornell really put the pieces together in the field.
“We played our cleanest game in the last game of the weekend so hopefully we can build off of that and take some momentums into this week,” Farlow said.
Farlow noted that solid pitching with few walks and mistake-free defense will be keys against Albany, the next opponent for the Red.
“We need to keep Albany off the bases because they put a lot of pressure on you once they have baserunners on,” Farlow said.