Softball ended its spring break run with a narrow lead over the Princeton Tigers (15-13, 8-4 Ivy), securing a 4-4 weekend record in two Ivy matchups and an out-of-conference double-header.
The first Ivy League matchup pitted the Red (9-15, 3-6 Ivy) against Penn (9-22, 5-6 Ivy) for three games on April 2 and April 3 in Philadelphia. On Saturday, the Red suffered a narrow loss driven to twelve innings by smart Cornell fielding and pitching from junior pitcher Mia Burd, who pitched for the first eleven innings. After tying in the seventh inning, neither team came up with the game-winning run until Penn rounded the bases in the bottom of the twelfth to finish an 8-7 win.
In the second game of the double-header, Penn scored an early run in the bottom of the first, but the Red had a stellar sixth inning. The bases were loaded when senior first-baseman Olivia Rooney stepped up to bat. Rooney delivered a grand-slam to put Cornell up, 4-1.
Penn couldn’t scrape back enough runs, and junior short-stop Maicie Levitt scored a run off a single from senior left-fielder Emily McKinney. The Red defeated the Quakers in the second match, 5-2.
The third game was another tight score, but the Quakers came out on top off a homer in the seventh inning, defeating the Red, 7-6.
Cornell played University of Maryland Eastern Shore (14-22, 10-2 MEAC) for a Tuesday double-header on April 5 in Princess Anne, Maryland. In their first match, the Red converted 11 hits into six runs, while keeping the Hawks’ baserunners from scoring. Cornell won handily, 6-1.
The Hawks amped up their offense in the second match, setting the stage with five runs in the fourth inning. Without any runs on the board, the Red had a lot of distance to cover in three innings. By the seventh inning, the Red had just managed to tie up the match, 6-6, and kept the Hawks from scoring in the bottom of the inning. Keeping the momentum, the Red scored four additional runs in the eighth and final inning, holding on for a 10-6 win.
The Red’s win-streak was cut short over the weekend by the Princeton Tigers. The Tigers scored 14 total runs on the Saturday double-header on April 9 in Princeton, New Jersey while shutting out Cornell in both games.
On Sunday, however, the Red retaliated. By the top of the fourth, neither team had managed to mark the scoreboard. Crist made it on base after being hit by a pitch. After stealing second and advancing to third on a single, Crist just needed a hit to bring her home. Travieso notched that hit, and the Red scored its first run of the weekend.
The Tigers tied it up in the bottom of the fifth, but the Red didn’t let them breathe for long. Levitt scored from third off another Travieso single, pushing Cornell ahead again in the sixth inning. Even with players on third and second, the Red couldn’t quite bring in another run, and the score remained at 2-1. However, it was enough to defeat Princeton, who failed to score in the remaining innings, rewarding Cornell with a satisfying final weekend win.
The Red will face Harvard (14-15, 8-3 Ivy), its fourth Ivy League challenger of the season, this weekend at home on April 16 and 17. The Red will really need to step up to the plate to improve its conference record this weekend. The Crimson previously defeated Penn and Columbia with three high-scoring matches each over the past two weekends, two teams that had greatly out-scored the Red in two of their three matches.