Game Notes I Gametracker vs. Arizona

GAME INFORMATION
Games #51-56: Cornell vs. No. 10 Arizona
First Pitch: Friday, May 21, at 9:00 p.m. (ET); Saturday, May 22, at 5/7/9:00 p.m.; Sunday, May 23, at 3/5:00 p.m. (if necessary)
Site: Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Softball Stadium, Tucson, Ariz.
2010 Records: Cornell (37-13, 17-3 Ivy League); Arizona (43-11, 13-8 Pac 10); Oklahoma State (43-13, 12-6 Big 12); Hofstra (43-10, 18-2 Colonial)
Series Record: First meeting between Cornell-Arizona; First meeting between Cornell-Hofstra; First meeting between Cornell-Oklahoma State
Last Meeting: Teams have never met

HEAD COACH DICK BLOOD
Head coach Dick Blood is in his 15th season at Cornell (515-221-1, .699) ... Blood is the first Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball.

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ITHACA, N.Y. --  The Cornell softball team opens up play in the 2010 NCAA tournament against one of the most storied programs in college history when it meets No. 10 Arizona Tucson, Ariz. on Friday, May 21 at 9:00 p.m. (ET). The double elimination tournament will also  feature nationally ranked Oklahoma State and Colonial Athletic Association champion Hofstra, both of whom won 43 games already this season.

The Ivy League champion Cornell softball team enters NCAA play with a 37-13 overall record. It will be the second straight year for the Big Red competing in the national championship tournament and the fifth time overall. The Big Red will be out for its first win in NCAA play since topping Long Beach State in 2004, earning head coach Dick Blood his 300th career victory. He has since increased that total to 515.

Leading the charge for the Big Red are five first-team All-Ivy players, including repeat conference player of the year Alyson Intihar and repeat pitcher of the year Elizabeth Dalrymple. After helping Cornell blaze through Ivy play with a 17-3 overall record before winning a best-of-three series from North Division champion Harvard for the conference's automatic bid, the Big Red is playing some of its best softball of the year. Cornell is 16-3 in its last 19 contests and is hitting an impressive .317 as a team, while posting a .969 fielding percentage.

Cornell was the No. 3 seed last year in the UMass regional, falling to the Minutewomen in the first round before being knocked out of the double elimination tournament by Sacred Heart the following day.

ABOUT ARIZONA
• Conference: The Pac-10
• Head Coach: Mike Candrea (Arizona State '80), 25th season.
• Record: 43-11, 13-8 (Pacific-10)
• Bid: At-Large
• Arizona enters the tournament with a 43-11 record (13-8 Pac 10) behind an offense that had six regulars hitting .338 or better.
• Included among the slugging stars are Brittany Lanstrapes at .409 with 15 HR, Stacie Chambers at .374 with 16 home runs and Brigette Del Ponte with 20 long balls.
• Overall, the Wildcats hit .327 as a team.
• Arizona's pitching staff allowed opponents to hit just .196 with ace Kenzie Fowler recording a 31-6 overall mark with a 1.22 ERA.
• Head coach Mike Candrea has won eight national titles, more than 1,100 games and has 21 trips to the Women's College World Series in the last 22 years.

ABOUT OKLAHOMA STATE
• Conference: The Big 12
• Head Coach: Rich Wieligman (Lubbock Christian '85), third season.
• Record: 43-14 (12-6 Big 12)
• Bid: At-Large
• The Cowgirls enter the NCAA tournament ranked No. 14 in the latest poll after finishing the regular season with a 43-14 record (12-6 Big 12).
• The Cowgirls are 7-7 in their last 14 games playing some of the toughest teams in the country.
• Oklahoma State and Cornell only have one common opponent, Dartmouth. The Big Red swept a pair of games from its Ivy League foe (5-2 and 5-3), while OSU won a 4-2 decision on March 19 in Tampa, Fla.
• Leading the way offensively for the Cowgirls is Mariah Gearhart (.358, 22 stolen bases) and Julie Ward (.327, 10 home runs, 52 RBI).
• Pitching (2.09 team ERA and .196 opponent batting average) and defense (.977 fielding percentage) have been the team's winning keys, with Kat Espinosa (19-5, 1.61 ERA) and Anna Whiddon (21-8, 2.25 ERA, 201 strikeouts) leading the way in the circle.
• OSU is one of seven Big 12 schools to earn a bid to this year's NCAA tournament.

ABOUT HOFSTRA
• Conference: The Colonial Athletic Association
• Head Coach: Bill Edwards (Northern Michigan '67), 21st season.
• Record: 43-10 (18-2 Colonial)
• Bid: Automatic
• The Pride are 43-10 and the Colonial Athletic Association regular season and tournament champions.
• Hofstra has won nine straight after matching a season-long with a two-game losing skid. 
• Kris Root is hitting a team-best .374 with 14 stolen bases for Hofstra, which hits .280 as a team. Michele DePasquale is batting .351with nine home runs and 38 RBI.
• In the circle, Olivia Galati is 24-6 with a 1.30 ERA and 280 strikeouts in 210 innings. Erin Wade is 18-4 overall with a 2.31 ERA. The team's 1.84 ERA and a .191 opponent's batting average is backed up by a Pride team that is fielding at a .981 clip.
• Hofstra is 36-0 when leading after four innings this season and are 36-2 when scoring first.

BACK TO THE NCAA's
• This is Cornell's fifth NCAA tournament appearance.
• The Big Red has a 1-8 record all-time in NCAA tournament play, with the lone win coming during the 2004 season, a 2-1 win over nationally ranked Long Beach State.
• Last year, Cornell dropped 8-0 decision to No. 24 Massachusetts in six innings before falling to Sacred Heart 3-1.

IVY LEAGUE IN THE NCAA's
• Ivy League teams have competed in the NCAA tournament every year since 1995 and have posted a 9-30 record in the postseason.
• Princeton earned sports in the College World Series in  both 1995 and 1996.
• The last Ivy League win came when Princeton knocked off Lehigh 3-1 in 2005.
• Either Princeton (7), Cornell (5) or Harvard (3) has represented the Ivy League in the national tournament every year except 1997, when Brown won the championship.

30-WINS A STAPLE
• Cornell has won 37 games so far this season, its fifth straight year and the 13th time in the last 14 years with at least 30 wins. The lone year it didn't reach that mark during that stretch was in 2005 when it went 29-17-1.
• To put that in perspective, no other team in the Ivy League has an active streak of 30-win seasons among Ivy teams, and while Cornell has done it 13 times in the last 14 years, the other seven Ancient Eight schools have reached that mark just 11 times combined in the same span.
• This is the fourth straight season that the Big Red has won at least 35 games and has lost 15 or fewer.
• The Big Red's 37 wins this season is tied for fifth all-time at Cornell.

FOUR HONORED FOR ACADEMICS
• The Ivy League champion Cornell softball team has plenty to cheer about on the field and in the classroom, as four members of the squad were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team, including three first-team members.
• Seniors Alyson Intihar and Elise Menaker made the team for the third straight year and will join junior Ali Tomlinson on the national Academic All-America ballot.
• Senior outfielder Devon March was a second-team pick.
• Intihar, the 2009 Ivy League Player of the Year, posted a 3.72 grade point average in applied economics and management.
• Menaker, a two-time first-team All-Ivy pick, has a 3.74 GPA in communication.
• Tomlinson's all-around play, despite missing significant time with injury, put her on the first team as a utility player after recording a 3.45 GPA in communication.
• March has had arguably her finest season as a senior and is a 3.61 grade point average student in human development.

THE IVY CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
• For the second straight year, South Division champion Cornell won a decisive game three at home against the North Division champion to earn an NCAA automatic bid.
• Cornell won a 3-2 contest in game three of the 2010 series on May 8 over Harvard behind a complete game win by Elizabeth Dalrymple and a two-run, wind-aided home run by junior Marissa Amiraian, her first career home run.
• In 2009, the Big Red knocked off Dartmouth 6-1 after splitting the first two games (4-0, 1-5) to earn its fourth NCAA bid.
• The Ivy League was divided into divisional play in 2007, and Harvard earned a sweep of Penn (2007) and Princeton swept Harvard (2008) in the first two seasons.

HOME SWEET HOME
• Cornell is 48-10 at home over the last four seasons, including an impressive 17-1 mark in 2009.
• During that span, the Big Red is 29-5 in league action at Niemand•Robison Field.
• Cornell had a 14-game home game win streak in regular season conference play snapped with a 7-6 loss earlier this year to Harvard.

HIT QUEENS
• Senior Alyson Intihar established a new Cornell career hit record with her second of two hits in a game one win over Brown on April 11.
• She surpassed Lauren May '05, who pounded out 226 hits in her four-year career.
• Intihar now leads the pack with 256 career hits and counting.
• Classmate Elise Menaker has also surpassed the previous record and has 232 career hits.

RECORD CHASERS
• Several Cornell players are moving up on season and career records.
• Senior Elise Menaker needs five runs scored to tie the mark of 51 (currently held by Alyson Intihar from 2009 and Kate Varde in 2004).
• Menaker also needs two RBI match Lauren May's four year career total of 190 that currently stands as the school record.
• Junior Elizabeth Dalrymple needs one win to tie the single-season victory record of 22, last reached by Sarah Sterman in 2004.
• Dalrymple needs two strikeouts to reach 438 for her career, moving her into third all-time in that category at Cornell. She needs 13 to reach second.
• Senior Alyson Intihar needs one double for 48 in her career, moving her into second place all-time at Cornell.
• With eight home runs, freshman Kristen Towne is close to becoming the 12th player to hammer at least 10 homers in a season.

CATCH THE FEVER
• The Big Red defense has been fantastic throughout the 2010 season, matching the school record for fielding percentage in a season at .969 along with the 2005 squad.
• The Big Red has committed multiple errors in a game just 13 times and has made 41 in 50 games as opposed to 86 by its opponents.
• In Ivy play, the Big Red has a .974 fielding percentage and made just 13 errors in 20 contests (33 for its opponents).

TOUGHEST TO PUNCH OUT
• Cornell senior Alyson Intihar enters the week as the toughest player to strike out in the country.
• Intihar is first nationally with just two strikeouts in 182 at bats.
• Over her career, Intihar has struck out just 34 times in 676 at bats (once every 19.9 at bats).
• Senior Devon March ranks second nationally in the category with one strikeout every 45.3 at bats. Also ranking in the top 20 nationally are Shannon Crane (16th, one ever 22.0 at bats) and Ashley Garvey (18th, one every 21.8 at bats).

OFFENSE COMING TO LIFE
• The Big Red is hitting .317 as a team, a mark that would rank fourth all-time at Cornell if maintained.
• It hit .364 in Ivy League play and averaged more than seven runs per game.
• After hitting a respectable .284 over the team's first 19 games, Cornell is hitting .335 in its last 31 contests.
• As a team, Cornell sits first nationally in doubles per game (1.82), 18th in batting average (.317), 23rd in scoring (5.94) and 39th in slugging percentage (.461).

MOUND GAMES
• Junior Elizabeth Dalrymple, the reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, has posted a 40-9 record over her last two seasons.
• Dalrymple pitched the program's eighth no-hitter against Penn on April 18, allowing only two walks in a seven-inning complete game. She struck out eight in the contest.
• It was the second no-hitter Dalrymple has been a part of, as she combined with Jenn Meunier on a five-inning no-hitter against Norfolk State on March 9. 2008.
• The no-hitter earned her Ivy League Pitcher of the Week honors and was just the seventh no-hitter to go a full seven innings, joining Julie Westbrock against Towson in 1999 and Sarah Sterman against Penn in 2003.
• She was sensational in Ivy play this season, going 11-1 with a save and a miniscule 1.31 ERA. She surrendered just 62 hits in 80.0 innings while striking out 103 with 12 walks.
• She surpassed 400 career strikeouts with a six K effort against Princeton and now has 436 to rank fourth all-time at Cornell.

MISCELLANEOUS STATS
• Junior Marissa Amiraian has a team-best eight-game hit streak entering the NCAAs. Shannon Crane posted the season-long stretch for the Big Red with a 10-game hitting streak.
• When senior Vanessa Leonhard starts behind the plate, Cornell is 30-7.
• Sophomore Morgan Cawley is the team's jack-of-all-trades, having started at five different positions (1B, SS, LF, CF, RF) in her 14 starts this year.
• You can go in and pencil in the leadoff and third spot in the batting order for this weekend's NCAA tournament games. Senior Alyson Intihar has batted leadoff in 100 straight contests dating back to the sixth game of the 2009 season, the same contest Elise Menaker took over the third spot.
• Cornell drives in runners at nearly 49 percent (.487, 58-of-119) in situations with a runner on third and less than two outs. It advances runners successfully on 51 percent of its opportunities (.509, 442-of-869).
• Senior Devon March leads the team with 18 two-out RBI.
• Teams are hitting .209 against Elizabeth Dalrymple with runners on base, less than her .222 opponent average throughout the season.
• Teams have stolen just 15 bases in 29 attempts against the Big Red this season, with Leonhard throwing out 7-of-19 possible baserunners and Kristen Towne punching out 7-of-8 runners.
• Cornell is 24-9 away from home this year, including 7-2 in neutral site games.
• With one RBI by Marissa Amiraian, Cornell would have 11 players with double figure RBI this season. That would tie the single-season school record from the 1999 campaign.

INTIHAR, DALRYMPLE AGAIN TAKE HOME TOP IVY SOFTBALL AWARDS
• The Ivy League champion Cornell softball team collected a major haul of awards as senior shortstop Alyson Intihar became the fifth two-time Ivy League Player of the Year and junior Elizabeth Dalrymple became the third repeat Pitcher of the Year when the conference honors were handed out on May 14 by the league office.
• Both were also first-team members and were joined by senior third baseman Elise Menaker, sophomore outfielder Shannon Crane and freshman designated player Kristen Towne, while senior catcher Vanessa Leonhard was named honorable mention All-Ivy.
• The awards are voted on by the head coaches of the eight Ivy League institutions.
• Menaker and Intihar became the fourth and fifth Big Red players to earn first-team all-league honors at least three times, making up the left side of the infield for the second straight year.
• Dalrymple and Harvard's Rachel Brown made up the first-team pitching staff for the second straight season.
• Intihar became the second Cornellian to earn Ivy Player of the Year a season ago and joins the only previous Big Red winner, Lauren May '05, as a two-time recipient of the award.
• Intihar's second straight Player of the Year honor joins her with May (2004, 05), Penn's Christina Khosravi (2006, '08) and Princeton's Mandy Pfeiffer (1995, '97) and Angela Tucci (1986, '88) as two-time winners. Only Intihar and May have earned the honor in consecutive seasons.
• Dalrymple became the second Cornell player to earn Pitcher of the Year, joining Julie Westbrock '99, but became the first Big Red player to capture the honor multiple times. She joins Princeton's Erin Snyder (2005, 06) and Brie Galicinao (2001, '02) as the lone multiple time winners of the award.