GAME INFORMATION
Games #1 and 3: Cornell vs. Rider
First Pitch: Saturday, March 5, at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, March 6, at 9:00 a.m.
Site: George Mason Softball Complex, Fairfax, Va.
2011 Records: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League); Rider (0-4, 0-0 MAAC)
Series Record: Cornell leads 5-0
Last Meeting: Cornell won 8-0, March 20, 2010 in Kissimmee, Fla.
Games #2 and 4: Cornell at George Mason
First Pitch: Saturday, March 5, at 4:45 p.m., Sunday, March 6, at 11:15 a.m.
Site: George Mason Softball Complex, Fairfax, Va.
2011 Records: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League); George Mason (2-2, 0-0 CAA)
Series Record: Cornell leads 9-6
Last Meeting: Cornell won 4-3, March 14, 2010 in Fairfax, Va.
HEAD COACH DICK BLOOD
Head coach Dick Blood is in his 16th season at Cornell (515-223-1, .698) ... Blood is the first Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball.
ITHACA, N.Y. — The two-time defending Ivy League champion Cornell softball team will open the 18th season in program history by heading South for the 2011 George Mason Patriot Classic at the GMU Softball Complex in Fairfax, Va. The Big Red will play Rider on Saturday, March 5 at 2:30 p.m., then meets the host school at 4:45 p.m. on day one. Day two will feature Cornell and Rider at 9 a.m., followed by the Big Red against the Patriots at 11:15 a.m.
Cornell returns three position starters and all three pitchers from last season's Ivy championship squad. The Big Red went 37-15, but the graduation of four All-Ivy players, including two-time conference Player of the Year
Alyson Intihar and three of the school's top five hitters in school history, leaves head coach
Dick Blood with plenty of question marks in the lineup.
This is the first of three consecutive weekends where Cornell will travel to George Mason, playing a total of 14 games in Fairfax during the three invitationals. The Big Red is 23-10 at the GMU Softball Complex over the years while playing competition over the years down South, including an incredible 20-1 over the last four seasons. The Big Red has won 15 straight at the complex, with its only loss during the run coming in a 2-1 decision to the host Patriots during the 2008 season.
Another storyline entering the season is Blood's chase to become the all-time winningest coach in Cornell athletics history for a single sport. He enters the year with 515 victories and needs 26 to tie legendary former baseball coach Ted Thoren (1962-890) at 541 during his 29-year career. Polo coach
David Eldredge has won 698 games combined (and counting) with both the men's and women's teams. Also, Cornell will be welcoming 11 newcomes, including 10 freshman and a junior college transfer.
ABOUT RIDER
• Conference: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAA)
• Head Coach: Tricia Carroll (Maryland '87), 17th season, 346-448-2.
• Rider opened the season with four consecutive losses at the North Carolina A&T Invitational last weekend, being outscored 16-1 in games against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, Presbyterian, Western Carolina and the host school.
• The Broncos batted just .142 in its first four contests while allowing opponents to hit .310. Junior Lucy Higgins led the team with a 3-for-11 opening weekend (.273). Rider fielded as a strong .974 clip. In the circle, junior Rachael Matreale was 0-2 in three appearances with 12 strikeouts and just two walks in 16.0 innings pitched.
• The Broncos return six starters and 12 letter winners from last season's 16-31-1 squad that went 8-8 in MAAC play, good for fifth place.
• Head coach Tricia Carroll, in her 17th season in the Rider dugout, has directed the program to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances and 346 career wins..
THE SERIES
• Cornell leads the all-time series between the programs 5-0, outscoring the Broncos 32-3 in those contests.
• The two teams met for the first time in 1998 and have met in three of the last four seasons, including 8-0 wins in six innings in each of the last two years.
• The Big Red has a 65-18 record against teams from the MAAC (Canisius 11-7; Fairfield 3-4; Iona 2-3; Manhattan 4-0; Marist 4-0; Niagara 14-1; Rider 5-0; St. Peter's 1-0; Siena 21-3).
• Cornell's five wins without a loss against Rider is tied for the second-most against any team without a loss in program history. The Big Red is 7-0 all-time against Quinnipiac and is also 5-0 vs. Norfolk State.
ABOUT GEORGE MASON
• Conference: Colonial Athletic Association (CAA)
• Head Coach: Joe Verbanic (San Diego State '82), seventh season, 107-204.
• George Mason is coming off a 21-24 campaign in 2010, posting its biggest win total since 2005. The squad finished 9-12 in CAA play.
• The Patriots are 2-2 this season after sweeping two games from Howard and being swept in two games from USC Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C. last weekend.
• Junior Katie Rynex opened 2011 with a bang, slugging a double and three home runs and driving in six in the team's four games. She entered the weekend with just one career home run in 46 career contests.
• As a team, George Mason is batting .253 and has a 4.45 team ERA while fielding at a .962 clip.
• In the circle, freshman Kelsey Byrd made a pair of starts and went 1-1 with a 3.82 ERA in 11.0 innings.
THE SERIES
• Cornell leads the all-time series 9-6, including winning four straight and seven of the last eight contests between the squads.
• The Patriots won five of the first seven contests between the teams and holds a 7-6 edge in games played in Fairfax, Va.
• Cornell has a 29-13 record all-time against members of the CAA (Delaware 4-2; Drexel 13-4; George Mason 9-6; James Madison 2-1; Towson 1-0).
30-WINS A STAPLE
• Cornell won 37 games a season ago, the fifth straight year and the 13th time in the last 14 years in has hit the 30-win plateau. 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 13 times in the last 14 years, the other seven Ancient Eight schools have reached that mark just 11 times combined in the same span.
HOME SWEET HOME
• Cornell is 50-10 at home over the last four seasons, including an impressive 17-1 mark in 2009.
• During that span, the Big Red is 31-5 in league action at Niemand•Robison Field, including 19-1 in the last two seasons.
MOUND GAMES
• Senior
Elizabeth Dalrymple, the two-time reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, has posted a 40-11 record over her last two seasons.
• Dalrymple pitched the program's eighth no-hitter against Penn on April 18, 2010, allowing only two walks in a seven-inning complete game. She struck out eight in the contest.
• It was the second no-hitter Dalrymple has been a part of, as she combined with Jenn Meunier on a five-inning no-hitter against Norfolk State on March 9. 2008.
• Dalrymple ranks fifth all-time at Cornell with 44 wins and is third and rising in career strikeouts (440). She enters her senior year needing 40 strikeouts to reach the top of that list, as Julie Westbrock '99 leads the way with 480. She can move up to second with 10 strikeouts this weekend, as Jenn Meunier struck out 449 in her four seasons.
• Entering her senior year, Dalrymple ranks 12th all-time in Ivy history in strikeouts and 18th in wins.
DALRYMPLE A LOWE'S SENIOR CLASS NOMINEE
• Senior pitcher
Elizabeth Dalrymple has been named one of 30 candidates for the Lowe's Senior Class Award.
• To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence — community, classroom, character and competition.
• From the list of 30 candidates, a national media committee will select 10 finalists in late March. Those 10 names will then be placed on the official ballot for a nationwide vote.
• Fan balloting will be coupled with votes from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award, which will be announced at the 2011 NCAA Women's College World Series in June.
• Cornell has had several winners of the prestigious national award, including most recently Colin Greening in men's ice hockey in 2010. Other Cornell award winners have been Matt McMonagle (men's lacrosse, 2007) and Max Seibald (men's lacrosse, 2009).
• Cornell and Florida have each had three winners, most among any schools in the country.
HIT TOWNE
• Sophomore
Kristen Towne, a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection as a utility player as a freshman in 2010, is coming off a rookie season in which she batted ,362 with 10 doubles, eight home runs and 31 RBI.
• Towne tied single game school records with three doubles (vs. Columbia) and three home runs (vs. Bethune-Cookman).
• She batted .455 with a .782 slugging percentage in Ivy League play.
NEXT UP
• The Big Red will head back South to Fairfax, Va. for the second of three consecutive weeks when it competes in the George Mason Invitational on March 11-13.
• Cornell will play both Binghamton and Bucknell twice, and the host Patriots once.
