Game Notes I Live Stats

GAME INFORMATION
Games #20-21: Dartmouth vs. Cornell
First Pitch: Friday, April 2, at 2:00 p.m.
Site: Niemand•Robison Softball Field, Ithaca, N.Y.
2010 Records: Dartmouth (1-15, 0-0 Ivy League); Cornell (12-7, 0-0 Ivy League)
Series Record: Cornell leads 32-7
Last Meeting: Cornell won 6-1 (Ivy Playoff), May 2, 2009 in Ithaca, N.Y.

Games #22-23: Harvard vs. Cornell
First Pitch: Saturday, April 3, at 12:30 p.m.
Site: Niemand•Robison Softball Field, Ithaca, N.Y.
2010 Records: Harvard (6-14, 0-0 Ivy League); Cornell (12-7, 0-0 Ivy League)
Series Record: Harvard leads 20-18
Last Meeting: Harvard won 6-5, April 4, 2009 in Cambridge, Mass.

HEAD COACH DICK BLOOD
Head coach Dick Blood is in his 15th season at Cornell (490-215-1, .511) ... Blood is the first Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball.

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ITHACA, N.Y. —  The 2009 Ivy League champion Big Red softball team will begin defense of its title when it hosts Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend on Niemand•Robison Field. Cornell, who won the South Division a year ago with a 17-3 mark, will meet 2009 North Division champ Dartmouth on Friday, April 2 beginning at 2 p.m., then will meet Harvard on Saturday, April 3 with first pitch slated for 12:30 p.m.

The Big Red has had some optimistic signs it can compete for the title again in 2010 with a frontloaded schedule over the first month, opening the year with a 12-7 record. Five of its seven losses have come by three runs or less, while six of its wins have come by five runs or more.

Since moving to a 20-game Ivy League slate in 2007, the Big Red has posted a 46-14 record in league play overall and a 22-4 record at home. Entering the weekend, Cornell is riding an 11-game home win streak in conference action after posting a perfect 10-0 jaunt through Ivy teams in 2010. 

Cornell has played good softball in all three phases. The team's .968 fielding percentage would rank second in school history if maintained, while the squad's .385 on-base percentage ranks second in school history through 19 games. Reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Elizabeth Dalrymple is 6-2 on the mound with a 2.59 ERA in 54.0 innings.

At the plate, reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Alyson Intihar is batting .439 (29th in Division I). Elise Menaker (.359, 3 HR, 20 RBI) and Kristen Towne (.298, 6 HR, 13 RBI) also have sparked the offense, as has Ashley Garvey (.275,  HR, 11 RBI). The offense has slumped recently, scoring just 11 runs in its last seven games (2-5) while batting .179 as a team with five extra-base hits.

ABOUT DARTMOUTH
• Conference: The Ivy League
• Head Coach: Christine Vogt (Harvard '94), fifth season.
• Dartmouth brings a 1-15 record and a 13-game losing skid into Friday's doubleheader.
• The Big Green went 23-23 and won the Ivy League North Division a season ago with a 13-7 record in 2009.
• Dartmouth returns 13 letter winners and nine of 10 starters from a season ago.
• Offensively, Dartmouth is batting .210  with All-Ivy returner Nikki Yee leading the way with her .320 average. All 16 of her hits have been singles.
• On the mound, Hillary Barker, Kat Hicks and Evan Gray each have at least three starts on the mound this season, but Dartmouth had allowed opponents to hit .329 as a team. with a .394 on-base percentage.
• Head coach Christine Vogt has posted a 77-135-1 record in her six seasons in charge of the Dartmouth program.

THE SERIES
• Cornell leads the al-time series 32-7 and went 3-2 against the Big Green a season ago.
• The teams squared off in a best-of-three Ivy League playoff series after splitting in the regular season, and the Big Red won its two playoff games by a combined score of 10-1 in Ithaca. Dartmouth won game two 5-1.

ABOUT HARVARD
• Conference: The Ivy League
• Head Coach: Jenny Allard (Michigan '90), 16th season.
• Harvard enters Friday's doubleheader with Columbia sporting a 6-14 overall record and has won two straight after snapping a 10-game losing skid.
• Both Melissa Schellberg (.321, 7 RBI) and Jennifer Francis (.300, 2 HR) are batting .300 or better as the Crimson are hitting .216 as a team.
• Starting pitcher Rachel Brown has been outstanding despite her 5-4 record, posting a 1.86 ERA with 86 strikeouts and just 44 hits allowed in 64.0 innings.
• Head coach Jenny Allard had a 371-303-2 record in 16 seasons directing Harvard's program, including a 27-17 mark a year ago. The team finished second in the Ivy League North Division with a 12-8 record.
• The Crimson returned 14 letter winners and seven position starters.

THE SERIES
• Harvard has a narrow 20-18 edge in the all-time series, with the two teams splitting a pair of meetings last season in Cambridge.
• The teams have split the two-game series each of the last two seasons, but Cornell had won seven straight meetings prior to that.

HOME SWEET HOME
• Cornell is 37-6 at home over the last three seasons, including an impressive 17-1 mark in 2009.
• During that span, the Big Red is 22-4 in league action at Niemand•Robison Field.
• Cornell is riding an 11-game home game win streak in regular season conference play after going 10-0 a season ago in Ivy action.

HIT ATTACK
• Senior Alyson Intihar is closing in on the school's career hits record.
• She enters the weekend with 217 to stand in third place. She needs three to surpass Jenna Campagnolo '08 for second and is 10 shy of surpassing Lauren May '05, who had 226 in her four-year career.
• Intihar is second on the school's batting average list (.388) and ranks in the top five in runs scored (second, 144), on-base percentage (second, .439), doubles (second, 44) and stolen bases (third, 29). She needs four doubles to tie Cornell's record and is six RBI away from becoming the ninth Cornellian with 100 for a career.

TOUGHEST TO PUNCH OUT
• Cornell seniors Devon March and Alyson Intihar enter the weekend as the toughest players to strike out in the country.
• The duo is tied for first nationally as the only two players in the country who haven't struck out in a game this season.
• Intihar hasn't been struck out in 66 at bats, while Intihar has 50 at bats without being punched out.
• Over her career, Intihar has struck out just 32 times in 560 at bats (once every 17.5 at bats).

GOING DEEP
• Freshman OF/C Kristen Towne tied a Cornell single game record with three home runs in an 8-3 win over Bethune-Cookman on March 22.
• She tied the record set three times previously (Allison Batten at Siena in 1998, Kate Varde at Dartmouth in 2001 and Lauren May vs. Penn in 2005).
• Her six home runs leads the team and ranks second in the Ancient Eight and first among freshmen.

MOUND GAMES
• Junior Elizabeth Dalrymple, the reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, has posted a 25-7 record over her last two seasons and needs just one more win to reach 30 for her career.
• She also needs 10 strikeouts to surpass 300 for her career.

A COMPLETE INFIELD
• For the third season in a row, Cornell's entire infield returns intact. Seniors Ashley Garvey (first base), Devon March (second base), Elise Menaker (third base) and Alyson Intihar (shortstop) patrol the Big Red infield. Over their three seasons together, Cornell has posted a 94-30 record (.758).

NEXT UP
• Cornell continues its six-game homestand on Wednesday, April 7 with a non-conference doubleheader against Albany at Niemand•Robison Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
• The Big Red returns to Ivy play when it hits the road for contests against Yale (doubleheader on Friday, April 9 at 2 p.m.) and Brown (doubleheader on Saturday, April 10 at 12:30 p.m.).