LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Head Coach Dick Blood couldn't have asked for a better way to earn his 300th career win. The Big Red softball team scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth and held on to post a 2-1 victory over third-seeded and 18th-ranked Long Beach State in the first round of the NCAA regionals in Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon. Cornell, the No. 6 seed, advances to play Alabama, a 4-2 winner over Central Michigan, in a contest to be televised live by ESPN on Friday at 3:00 p.m. EST. The Crimson Tide is ranked 15th in the country and is the No. 2 seed in the region.

The victory was Cornell's first in three trips to the NCAA regionals and extended its win streak to 18 games. It was also the 42nd win of the season for the Big Red, setting a new program record. The Big Red was led by senior Erin Sweeney, who scored the first run of the contest and went 2-for-3, including a double, to extend her hitting streak to nine games. Senior Sarah Sterman went the distance to earn the win, raising her season record to 22-7.

After three scoreless innings, Cornell got its first hit of the afternoon off 49ers' starter Meredith Cervenka when Sweeney led off the fourth with a double down the right field line. Senior Kate Varde was hit by a pitch and junior Lauren May put both runners in scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. That set the stage for junior Melissa Heintz' one-out single to left field, plating Sweeney for the game's first run.

The eventual game-winning run came a batter later when sophomore Caitlin Warren laid down a successful squeeze bunt, scoring Varde to up the lead to 2-0. After an unsuccessful attempt by Cervenka to get Varde at the plate, the 49ers recorded a double play to end the inning, as Cornell's Colleen McGuire, who was pinch-running for Heintz, got caught in a run-down before Warren was nabbed after making the turn past first base.

Long Beach State recorded its only run on the day in the bottom of sixth on a two-out RBI single from Marcel Torres, scoring Lauren Johnson from second and cutting the Big Red's lead to 2-1.

The 49ers threatened in the bottom of the seventh with a runner on second with two outs, but Sterman induced a groundout to cap her brilliant performance. She allowed only one run on five hits while striking out five batters in her 23rd complete game of the season. Cervenka allowed two hits and two runs in four innings of work before being relieved by Lindsey Knoff, who pitched three shutout innings while giving up three hits.

The win was the first by an Ivy League team in NCAA tournament play since 1998, when Harvard defeated Boston College 11-2 in a consolation game. Princeton was the last Ancient Eight squad to win its NCAA opener, as the Tigers posted a 1-0 shutout over Boston University in 1995. Cornell has now has a 16-game win streak against non-conference opponents and has won its 1ast 12 road contests.

Friday's contest will be the Big Red's first ever matchup against Alabama and the team's second contest against an SEC school, the other being Louisiana State. In the 2001 NCAA regional at LSU, Cornell dropped an 8-0 decision to the Tigers.