Live Stats I 2011 Roster I 2011 Schedule and Results I 2011 Statistics

STORY LINE: The Cornell softball team will begin defense of its Ivy League title when it opens conference play against Yale on Saturday, April 2 at 2 p.m. at Ithaca College, then plays Brown on Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m.

ABOUT CORNELL: The Big Red is off to an 11-11-1 start with a revamped lineup, as the two-time defending Ivy League champion opens conference play on a four-game win streak. Senior Marissa Amiraian is batting .383 with 15 runs while spearheading the Big Red at the top of the lineup, while sophomore Kristen Towne is hitting .368 with a team-high six home runs and 19 RBI. In the circle, two-time Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Elizabeth Dalrymple is 6-3 with a 0.83 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 76.1 innings of work. Head coach Dick Blood has won 526 career games at Cornell and five Ivy League titles.

ABOUT YALE: Yale brings a 6-10 overall record into its Ivy opener against the Big Red sporting an eight-game losing skid after opening the season 6-2. Jennifer Ong is batting a team-best .364 with seven RBI, while Katie Yanagisawa is hitting .354. As a team, the Bulldogs are hitting .274. In the circle, freshman Chelsey Dunham is 4-6 with a 3.15 ERA in 53.1 innings. In all, freshmen have accounted for 82.1 of the team's 105 innings. Fifth-year head coach Barbara Reinalda has a 111-128-1 record as head coach.

THE SERIES: The Big Red leads the all-time series 22-12 and has won 13 straight in the series. Yale's last win came during the 2004 campaign, a 2-0 win in New Haven, Conn. Cornell won both matchups last season in New Haven, Conn., capturing a 3-0 victory in game one and a 7-3 victory in the nightcap.

ABOUT BROWN: The Bears bring a 5-8-1 record into Friday's doubleheader at Princeton. Brown has lost five straight despite tremendously hot hitting from sophomore Stephanie Thompson. Thompson is hitting .553 with eight home runs and 15 RBI in 14 contests, while her 1.106 slugging percentage leads the Ancient Eight by a large margin. Brown is batting .282 as a team with four regulars batting .346 or better. The Bears have struggled some in the field with just a .928 fielding percentage. In the circle, Brown's leader has been Kristie Chin with a 4-4 record and a 3.60 ERA in 58.1 innings of work wih 38 strikeouts. Head coach DeeDee Enabenter-Omidiji is in her fourth season at Brown.

THE SERIES: The Big Red leads the all-time series 23-14. Cornell has swept the series each of the last three years, outscoring Brown 48-6 in the six contests, including 23-4 in 2010.

HOME SWEET HOME: Cornell is 49-10 at home over the last four seasons, including an impressive 31-5 mark in league action at Niemand•Robison Field. The Big Red is 8-1 at home in its last nine games, outscoring opponents 59-19 over that span.

IVY STANDARD: Since moving to a 20-game Ivy League slate in 2007, the Big Red has posted a 63-17 record in league play overall and a 31-5 record at home.

THE RACE FOR THREE: The Big Red has had some optimistic signs it can compete for the title again in 2011 with a frontloaded schedule over the first month, opening the year with a 11-11-1 record. Seven of its 11 losses have come by three runs or less.

IN IT TO WIN IT: Cornell enters Ivy play with a four-game win streak, its most consecutive wins heading into conference action since winning eight straight prior to the 2009 Ivy season.

30 WINS A STAPLE: Cornell won 37 games a season ago, the fifth straight year and the 13th time in the last 14 years it 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.

MOUND GAMES: Senior Elizabeth Dalrymple, the two-time reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, has posted a 50-17 record over her last three seasons. Dalrymple ranks fifth all-time at Cornell with 50 wins and holds the school's career strikeout mark (523). Dalrymple is also second in lowest opponent batting average (.219), fourth in lowest ERA (1.76) and saves (4) and is fifth in complete games (54) and shutouts (14).

HIT TOWNE: Sophomore Kristen Towne, a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection as a utility player as a freshman in 2010, is off to a great start in 2011. She is batting .368 with four doubles, a triple and six home runs with 19 RBI in 23 contests. She is slugging .721 with a .421 on-base percentage and hasn't committed an error in 110 fielding chances. Towne is coming off a rookie season in which she batted .362 with 10 doubles, eight home runs and 31 RBI. She batted .455 with a .782 slugging percentage in Ivy League play.

ON A TWO-YEAR TEAR: Senior outfielder Marissa Amiraian has picked right up where she left off a season ago, batting .383 with a team-high 31 hits, 15 runs scored and three triples while starting all 23 games this year. She is also perfect in 33 fielding chances and has posted a .438 on-base percentage. A year ago, Amiraian batted .400 and had one of the most memorable hits in school history when she hit a two-run homer to help Cornell to a 3-2 victory over Harvard in game three of the Ivy League championship season. She is the lone player to start all 23 contests for the Big Red this season and has posted eight multi-hit games. Amiraian brings a team-best five-game hit streak into Ivy play.

BELLES ON A TEAR: During Cornell's four-game win streak, sophomore Erin Belles is batting .700 with two doubles, three home runs and nine RBI. She has also scored five runs. Belles is slugging 1.800 with a .769 on-base percentage in her four appearances. Entering the contest, Belles was batting .209 with one double, no home runs and two RBI in 26 career appearances.

ROOKIES ON DISPLAY: Several freshmen have seen significant action over the first month and are trying to lock down spots in the lineup. Christina Villalon (.259, two home runs, 10 RBI) ranks second on the team in RBI and third in home runs while starting 20 games at a variety of positions (C, 1B, LF, RF, DP). Lauren Bucolo (.232, 3 2B, 12 R) has started 21 games and appeared in all 23 contests while starting games at all four infield positions. Jenny Edwards (.200, 2 2B, HR, 10 R) has primarily played at second base while starting 21 games. Rookies Sam Creamer (.231), J.J. Briggs (.231) and Sarah McCormack (.200) have also started a combined 19 games.

SMART PLAY: Senior Ali Tomlinson, despite battling through numerous injuries in her last two seasons, is back on track in the pitching circle. Tomlinson is 4-5 with a 3.74 ERA with a pair of complete games so far in 2011. She ranks second on the team to Elizabeth Dalrymple in strikeouts (29), innings pitched (48.2), ERA (3.74) and games started (6) and appeared in (10). Tomlinson was named to the Capital One Academic All-District team in 2010 after recording a 3.45 grade point average in communication.

BIG WINNER: Head coach Dick Blood is in a chase to become the all-time winningest coach in Cornell athletics history for a single sport. He enters the weeked with 526 victories and needs 15 to tie legendary former baseball coach Ted Thoren (1962-890) at 541 during his 29-year career. Polo coach David Eldredge has won 700 games combined (and counting) with both the men's and women's teams.

IVY WEEKLY HONORS: The Cornell softball team took home a pair of Ivy League weekly awards, as senior Elizabeth Dalrymple was named Ivy League Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season, while sophomore Kristen Towne captured Ivy League Player of the Week for the first time in 2011 and the second time in her career. The duo helped the Big Red to a 6-5-1 record over Spring Break, including four straight wins to close the trip. Dalrymple was again outstanding in taking home the award, as the two-time Ivy League Pitcher of the Year went 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA in five starts en route to becoming the school's all-time strikeout leader. She punched out at least six hitters in each game, including a five-hit shutout win over defending Patriot League champ Bucknell in which she struck out 11. Towne led Cornell's offense over the week by hitting .471 with an .853 slugging percentage in 12 contests. She slammed three home runs and 12 RBI, and was especially efficient in the late innings. Towne slammed a two-run homer in the eighth inning to give Cornell a split with Longwood, drove in a run in the seventh to give the Big Red a victory over Bucknell, had a home run and five RBI in a win over Liberty and was 4-for-4 with three runs scored in a slugfest victory at Mount St. Mary's.

NEXT UP: The Big Red will play a pair of midweek games at Albany on Tuesday, April 5 at 3:30 p.m., then continues on the road to face Dartmouth (Friday, April 8 at 2 p.m.) and Harvard (Saturday, April 9 at 12:30 p.m.) for its first Ivy League road weekend.