Game One Archived Video
Game Two Archived Video
Photo Gallery (Photos by Tim McKinney)
Box Score Game One
Box Score Game Two
ITHACA, N.Y.—The Big Red softball team split with Dartmouth on day one of the Ivy Playoffs on Saturday afternoon. The two teams will play a deciding game three on Sunday afternoon for the Ivy title and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Cornell shut out the Big Green 4-0 in game one, but Dartmouth bounced back to pick up a 5-1 victory in game two. Cornell moves to 41-11 overall for the season, while Dartmouth has a 23-23 mark.
Sophomore Elizabeth Dalrymple picked up the win in game one and notched seven strikeouts, while holding her opponents to a .160 batting average. Classmate Ali Tomlinson took the loss in game two with five strikeouts and three earned runs. Junior Elise Menaker was 4-for-5 at the plate with a double, while Vanessa Leonhard was 3-for-5 with a RBI. Junior Alyson Intihar had four hits on the day, while Ashley Garvey notched three.
Nikki Yee led the Big Green for the day going 3-for-6 at the plate with a triple and two RBI. Christy Autin also had a triple for Dartmouth with two hits. The remaining seven batters in the Big Green lineup each notched a hit. Devin Lindsay struck out six Big Red batters in game two to earn the win, while Hillary Barker allowed four earned runs on nine hits to take the loss in game one.
In the bottom of the second inning in game one, Garvey led off with a single through the left side. Risica advanced her to second with a sac bunt, and Garvey scored off a double by senior Jessy Berkey. Tomlinson grounded out to the pitcher, but advanced Berkey to third. Leonhard drove in Berkey with a single to centerfield.
Intihar singled to lead off the bottom of the third inning. Intihar stole second, and Menaker singled up the middle. Garvey followed with a single of her own to drive in Intihar and give Cornell a 3-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the fifth, Menaker doubled to right field, but was tagged out at third off a fielder's choice. Garvey took advantage of Dartmouth running down Menaker to advance to second base, and she advanced to third on a wild pitch. Berkey walked, and ball four was wild allowing Garvey to score.
In game two, Dartmouth served as the home team.
In the top of the first inning, Intihar hit a hard ball to shortstop and was safe at first base. Menaker and Garvey followed with singles to load the bases. Risica hit a deep fly ball to centerfield allowing Intihar to tag up and score.
Kirsten Costello walked to lead off the bottom of the inning, and Yee reached first of a Cornell error during her sac bunt. With two outs, Ashley Parker singled to leftfield to tie the game at 1-1.
With two outs in the bottom of the second, Autin tripled to right field, and Costello singled to second to drive her in and give Dartmouth its first lead of the day. Yee tripled to left center field to allow another run to score for the Big Green.
Dartmouth notched three more hits in the fourth inning to drive in another run and take a 4-1 lead. Cornell was unable to score for the remainder of the game, and with a run in the sixth, Dartmouth won a 5-1 game to tie the series at 1-1.
The Big Red and Dartmouth will play the deciding game at 12:30 p.m. at the Niemand·Robison Softball Field on Sunday afternoon.
