Game Notes I Live Stats (Tuesday vs. Columbia/Friday vs. Princeton)

GAME INFORMATION
Games #38-39: Columbia vs. Cornell
First Pitch: Tuesday, April 27, at 2:00 p.m.
Site: Niemand•Robison Field, Ithaca, N.Y.
2010 Records: Columbia (11-28, 2-12 Ivy League); Cornell (26-11, 12-2 Ivy League)
Series Record: Cornell leads 21-7
Last Meeting: Cornell won 4-1, April 24, 2010 in Ithaca, N.Y.

Games #40-41: Cornell vs. Ithaca
First Pitch: Wednesday, April 28, at 3:30 p.m.
Site: Kostrinsky Field, Ithaca, N.Y.
2010 Records: Cornell (26-11, 12-2 Ivy League); Ithaca (22-10, 11-1 Empire 8)
Series Record: Cornell leads 23-8
Last Meeting: Cornell won 11-3 (5 innings), April 22, 2010 in Ithaca, N.Y.

Games #42-45: Princeton vs. Cornell
First Pitch: Friday, April 30, at 2:00 p.m. (Ithaca); Sunday, May 2, at 12:30 p.m. (Princeton)
Site: Niemand•Robison Field (Ithaca, N.Y.), Class of 1895 FIeld (Princeton, N.J.)
2010 Records: Princeton (11-29, 5-11 Ivy League); Cornell (26-11, 12-2 Ivy League)
Series Record: Princeton leads 22-16
Last Meeting: Cornell won 7-2, April 26, 2009 in Ithaca, N.Y.

HEAD COACH DICK BLOOD
Head coach Dick Blood is in his 15th season at Cornell (504-219-1, .697) ... Blood is the first Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball.

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ITHACA, N.Y. —  The Big Red softball team will attempt to clinch its second straight Ivy League title, first by capturing an Ivy League South Division crown, during a busy week for Cornell. The team will meet Columbia on Tuesday, April 27 at 2 p.m., then steps out of conference for a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 28 at 3:30 p.m. The Big Red closes out regular season conference action at home against Princeton on Friday, April 30 at 2 p.m. before heading to New Jersey on Sunday, May 2 at 12:30 p.m.

Three wins in its six scheduled Ivy games would give the Big Red its second straight South Division championship and put it into the best-of-three Ivy playoff. Cornell has a one game lead over Harvard with six games to play as both teams are jockeying to host the playoff series.  

A weekend rainout will put Cornell's depth to the test as the team is scheduled to play eight games in a span of six days. Six of them will be in Ivy play, and each contest is important as the Big Red attempts to claim both the Ivy League South Division title and hold onto the best record among Ancient Eight teams. In addition, Cornell needs to win four more contests to post its fifth straight 30-win season and its 13th in the last 14 years.

The Big Red has won five of its last six contests, including a doubleheader sweep of Columbia this past Saturday behind a dominant effort by junior pitcher Elizabeth Dalrymple. She picked up wins in both ends of the doubleheader, allowing just one run over 11 innings of work, striking out 10 without issuing a walk. Freshman Kristen Towne was also outstanding, getting hits in 4-of-5 at bats. Her 3-for-3 effort in game one against the Lions featured a school-record three doubles in the 10-0 Big Red victory.

ABOUT COLUMBIA
• Conference: The Ivy League
• Head Coach: Kayla Noonan (Hofstra '98), eighth season.
• The Lions bring an 11-28 record (2-12 Ivy) into the Tuesday afternoon doubleheader with the Big Red.
• Columbia is 3-11 in its last 14 games, but has scored four runs per game during that stretch.
• The Lions have a potent offense with six regulars hitting .273 or better entering the week. Leading the way is All-Ivy candidate Kayla Lechler (.364, six doubles, four home runs, 23 RBI).
• Opponents are hitting .321 against Columbia pitching, with both Maureen O'Kane (4-12, 3.92 ERA) and Maggie Johnson (5-11, 4.56 ERA) pitching a majority of the innings.
• Head coach Kayla Noonan sports 155-220-1 mark directing the Lions softball team.

THE SERIES
• The Big Red leads the all-time series 21-7, including winning 15 of the last 17 meetings between the teams.
• Cornell won three of four contests last season in New York City en route to the Ivy League South Division title, which it clinched during the second day doubleheader sweep.

ABOUT ITHACA
• Conference: The Empire 8
• Head Coach: Deb Pallozzi (Cortland '79), 22nd season.
• The Bombers enter the week with a 22-10 overall record and an 11-1 mark in the Empire 8 Conference.
• Ithaca has won 10 of its last 12 contests.
• The Bombers are hitting .310 as a team led by Kerry Barger (.383), Kait Dolan (.369) and Brittany Lillie (.359, 6 HR).
• On the mound, IC is allowing foes to hit just .175 behind the arms of Alyssa Brook (8-5, 0.91 ERA), Allison Greaney (9-1, 1.69 ERA) and Lillie (5-2, 2.07 ERA).
• Head coach Deb Pallozzi, who has captured five conference Coach of the Year awards, sports 609-252-1 mark directing the Bombers' softball team with a national title in 2002.

THE SERIES
• The Big Red leads its crosstown rival 23-8 in the all-time series, including winning six straight. Cornell has outscored Ithaca 40-6 in those six contests, with three ending after five innings.
• The Big Red swept a pair of contests from the Bombers a season ago, wunnung 10-0 and 11-3 in a pair of five-inning contests at Niemand•Robison Field.

ABOUT PRINCETON
• Conference: The Ivy League
• Head Coach: Trina Salcido (Oregon '97), third season.
• The Tigers bring an 11-29 record (5-11 Ivy) into the week.
• A perennial contender in the Ivy League South Division, Princeton is 4-3 in its last seven conference contests.
• The tandem of Jamie Lettire and Kelsey Quist have each hit nine home runs for a Tiger offense that has hit 32 long balls in 2010.
• Opponents are hitting .324 against the Tigers, with primary starters Liza Kuhn (4.90) and Lettire (6.04) each posting ERAs of 4.0 runs or more..
• Head coach Trina Salcido sports 50-75 mark directing the Tigers' softball team.

THE SERIES
• Princeton leads the all-time series 22-16, though Cornell swept a four-game series from the Tigers a season ago.
• The Big Red outscored the Tigers 23-5 in the four-game series win in 2009.
• In series where the two teams have met at least 20 times, Princeton is one of just four teams that holds an all-time lead against the Big Red, joining Harvard (19-21), Stetson (4-19) and Syracuse (8-12).

30-WINS A STAPLE
• Cornell has won 26 games so far this season and is heading for the 30-win plateau for the fifth straight year and the 13th time in the last 14 years. 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 conference has an active streak of 30-win seasons among Ivy teams, and while Cornell has done it 12 times in the last 13 years, the other seven Ancient Eight schools have reached that mark just 11 times combined in the same span.

HOME SWEET HOME
• Cornell is 44-9 at home over the last four seasons, including an impressive 17-1 mark in 2009.
• During that span, the Big Red is 27-5 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 to Harvard.

HIT QUEEN
• 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 241 career hits and counting.
• Intihar is batting .426 in Ivy play this season (23-of-54).
• She is 16-for-32 (.500) in her last eight Ancient Eight starts.
• Also climbining the charts is senior Elise Menaker with 218 hits, good for fourth all-time at Cornell.

RECORD CHASERS
• Several Cornell players are moving up on season and career records.
• With her 15 doubles in 2010, senior Elise Menaker is two shy of classmate Alyson Intihar's mark of 17 set in 2008. She only needs one to surpass Tracy Quinn for the career mark, bringing 48 into the week. Just behind is Intihar with 45.
• Intihar also has also  matched Kate Varde's record of 160 career runs scored and needs one more to etch her name in the record book.
• With eight home runs, freshman Kristen Towne is close to becoming the 12th player to hammer at least 10 homers in a season.
• Junior Elizabeth Dalrymple needs 21 strikeouts to knock off her school record total of 174 set in 2009.

NEXT UP
• Cornell will close out the regular season at Binghamton on Tuesday, May 4 at 3:30 p.m.
• If the Big Red wins the Ivy South Division title, it will meet the North Division champion in a best-of-three series for the Ivy League's automatic NCAA bid at the home of the higher seed beginning on Saturday, May 8.