Game 1 Box Score (Cornell 3, Harvard 1)
Game 2 Box Score (Harvard 4, Cornell 2)

ITHACA, N.Y. -- For the second straight season, the Cornell softball team will play a decisive third game in the Ivy League championship series for an NCAA bid after splitting a doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Niemand*Robison Field. The Big Red won a game one pitching duel 3-1 before the Crimson rallied for a two-out walk-off home run in the eighth inning for a 4-2 triumph in game two. The two teams will meet tomorrow with the winner earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Cornell moved to 36-13 with the split, while Harvard is now 27-22.

Junior pitcher Elizabeth Dalrymple did yeoman's work in the circle, pitching all 14.2 innings for the Big Red, striking out 17 and walking just three. Dalrymple picked up the decisions in both contests, including a complete game four-hitter in the opener, outpitching Harvard star Rachel Brown.

Game one
It was a pair of bases loaded walks by the usually reliable Brown that helped give the Big Red the victory in the opener. Cornell never trailed, going up 1-0 in the third on a run-scoring single by Shannon Crane. After Crimson tied the contest in the top of the fourth, the Big Red used an infield hit and four walks to score twice. Both Erin Keene and Marissa Amiraian each had a pair of RBI walks in the inning and Dalrymple shut the visitors down in the bottom of the frame. She ended the game with her ninth strikeout of the contest to push the Big Red to the brink of the championship.

Amiraian was 2-for-2 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored to spearhead the Cornell offense as Dalrymple won her 20th decision of the season. The two teams combined for just nine hits in the contest.

Game two
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Harvard got a pair of two-out singles before Jennifer Francis slammed a 0-1 fastball over the center field fence for the walk-off blast, giving the home team on the scoreboard the victory and pushing the championship to a decisive third game.

The home run was the first chink in Dalrymple's armor, as the junior scattered one run and nine hits over the first seven innings. The Big Red never trailed in game two until the final pitch, taking a 1-0 lead in the first on an Elise Menaker solo homer, only to see Harvard string together a couple of singles around a sacrifice bunt. The Big Red then went up 2-1 in the eighth on a controversial play. After a wild pitch on what appeared to be a third strike to Alyson Intihar, the senior was called out because a runner already occupied first base. Marissa Amiraian advanced to second on the play. After she was called out, Cornell appealed to the base umpires, who said Intihar hadn't swung at the pitch. With a second life, the reigning Player of the Year drove a fastball up the middle to score Amiraian from second to take a quick lead that would be short-lived after Francis' homer.