Live Video I Live Stats I Updated Record Book I 2011 Cornell Statistics I 2011 Roster I 2011 Schedule & Results
THE STORY LINE: The Cornell softball team has its sights on a third straight Ivy League title when it heads to Cambridge, Mass. for the best-of-three game series against Harvard beginning on Saturday, May 7 at 1 p.m. at Soldier's Field. The Big Red, the South Division champion, will face the North Division champ Crimson for the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Cornell has been the Ivy representative each of the last two years an dis 27-20-1 on the year, including 16-9 over its last 25 contests. Harvard enters the game on an eight-game win streak and posted a conference-best 18-2 record. One of its two losses came at home to the Big Red in a doubleheader split on April 9.
SCOUTING THE BIG RED: The Big Red brings a 27-20-1 start with a revamped lineup, as the two-time defending Ivy League champion will look for a third after claiming the South Division with a 12-7 record. Senior Marissa Amiraian is batting .413 with 42 runs while spearheading the Big Red at the top of the lineup. Sophomore Kristen Towne is hitting .305 with a team-high six home runs to go along with 27 RBI, second on the team. Sophomore Erin Belles is hitting .318 with six home runs and 17 RBI, while freshman Christina Villalon (.300, 4 HR, 18 RBI) is also hitting better than .300. Rookie second baseman Jenny Edwards is batting .246 with five home runs and a team-high 29 RBI. In the circle, two-time Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Elizabeth Dalrymple is 19-8 with a 1.88 ERA and 206 strikeouts in 186.0 innings of work. Head coach Dick Blood has won a Cornell-best 542 games and five Ivy League titles.
SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: The Crimson bring a 34-14 overall mark (18-2 Ivy) into the weekend and is on an eight-game win streak. Harvard is hitting .327 as a team with Ellen Macadam leading the way at .449 with eight home runs. Freshman Kasey Lange (.436, 20 2B, 11 HR, 64 RBI) and Stephanie Regan (.379, 12 2B, 22 RBI) also rank among the Ivy leaders in hitting. Where Harvard excels is in the circle, with junior Rachel Brown posting a 20-6 record with a 2.00 ERA and 274 strikeouts in 168.0 innings of work and freshman Laura Ricciardone going 12-5 with a 2.15 ERA in 114.0 innings of work. Head coach Jenny Allard won the 400th game of her illustrious career earlier this season, her 17th in the dugout for Harvard. She has won four Ivy titles and has led the program to three NCAA tournament berths..
THE SERIES: Harvard has a narrow 23-22 edge in the all-time series, with the two teams splitting a doubleheader in Cambridge, Mass. earlier this season. Cornell won the 2010 Ivy League championship series a year ago, winning a tight 2-1 series in Ithaca. The Big Red handed Harvard one of its two losses in conference play this season.
THE SCENARIO: Cornell and Harvard, the conference's division champions, will square of in a best-of-three series with the winner capturing the Ivy League championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament that comes with it. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. at the Crimson's Soldier's Field. If the teams split the doubleheader, like they did when the teams previously met there on April 9, a deciding game three will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT: The Cornell softball team won its third straight Ivy League South Division title with a 1-0 win over Penn on Thursday morning at Drexel Field, handing head coach Dick Blood his Cornell record 542nd win in the process. The Big Red used an infield single by Jenny Edwards with two outs in the seventh to score the lone run of the game in a pitcher's duel. Ali Tomlinson opened the inning with a single. With one out, Sam Creamer singled through the left side to put runners on first and second, with Jenna Stoller pinch-running for the rookie. Morgan Cawley's ground ball to second was bobbled for an error to load the bases. Marissa Amiraian made great contact, but her hard-hit ball to third went home for the second out. Edwards took a 1-0 pitch back up the middle, and a diving attempt by Penn second baseman Samantha Erosa glanced off her glove as Jenna Stoller crossed the plate to start the celebration. The fact that the game came down to one run was due to in large part due to outstanding pitching by both squads. Elizabeth Dalrymple was sensational for the Big Red. She didn't allow a hit until there was one out in the sixth and ended the day with a complete-game two-hitter. She struck out five and walked two in picking up her 19th win of the year. Penn's Mickenzie Voves took the hard-luck loss, surrendering just seven hits and the one run. She struck out six batters. Blood surpassed legendary Big Red baseball coach Ted Thoren, who won 541 games in a 29-year career in the dugout. He ran his record to 542-243-2 at Cornell (.690).
IN THE CIRCLE: Unquestionably the top two pitchers in the Ivy League over the last three years have been Cornell's Elizabeth Dalrymple and Harvard's Rachel Brown. Dalrymple has been named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Year twice, while Brown has joined Dalrymple on the All-Ivy first team. Dalrymple has had more success against the Crimson over her career than Brown has had against the Big Red, with Dalrymple going 5-2 with a 2.75 ERA. She has struck out 58 batters with 10 walks while surrendering 48 hits in 48.1 innings of work. Brown is 1-3 with a save and a 5.58 ERA against Cornell. She has struck out 29 batters with 10 walks and 29 hits allowed in 26.1 innings pitched.
HOME SWEET HOME: Cornell is 56-12 at home over the last four seasons, including an impressive 35-7 mark in league action at Niemand•Robison Field (includes a 2-0 mark at Ithaca College). The Big Red is 14-3 at home in its last 17 games, outscoring opponents 103-44 over that span.
IVY STANDARD: Since moving to a 20-game Ivy League slate in 2007, the Big Red has posted a 75-24 record in league play overall and a 35-7 record at home.
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 12 times combined in the same span.
ALL-TIME WINNER: Head coach Dick Blood became the all-time winningest coach in Cornell athletics history for a single sport with Thursday's 1-0 win over Penn. He enters the weekend series with 542 victories , surpassing legendary former baseball coach Ted Thoren (1962-890) who went 541-520-11 during his 29-year career. Blood has posted a 542-243-2 mark at Cornell.
ON A TWO-YEAR TEAR: Senior outfielder Marissa Amiraian has picked right up where she left off a season ago, batting .413 with a team-high 66 hits, 42 runs scored and seven triples while starting all 48 games. She is also perfect in 70 fielding chances and has posted a .486 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. Her .349 career batting average now ranks No. 7 all-time at Cornell, while her nine triples ranks second.
MOUND GAMES: Senior Elizabeth Dalrymple, the two-time reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year, has posted a 59-19 record over her last three seasons. Dalrymple ranks fifth all-time at Cornell with 63 wins and holds the school's career strikeout mark (646). Dalrymple is also second in lowest opponent batting average (.222), fourth in lowest ERA (1.93), fifth in saves (4) and complete games (66) and third in shutouts (17).
HIT TOWNE: Sophomore Kristen Towne, a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection as a utility player as a freshman in 2010, is having another strong season in her second year. She is batting .305 with eight doubles, a triple and six home runs with 27 RBI in 47 contests. She is slugging .504 with a .373 on-base percentage and has committed just one error in 282 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.
ROOKIES ON DISPLAY: Several freshmen have played key roles in the 2011 lineup. At second base, Jenny Edwards is hitting .246 with five home runs and 29 RBI, while outfielder Christina Villalon is hitting .300 with four home runs and 18 RBI. Outfielder Sam Creamer (.292) and infielder Lauren Bucolo (.262, 3 HR, 17 RBI) have also played key roles. Other rookies earning significant time are infielder Sarah McCormack and outfielder J.J. Briggs, who have combined to play in 63 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 7-6 with a 3.88 ERA and a pair of complete games so far in 2011. She ranks second on the team to Elizabeth Dalrymple in strikeouts (52), innings pitched (83.0), ERA and games started (8) and appeared in (21). Tomlinson was named to the Capital One Academic All-District team in 2010 after recording a 3.45 grade point average in communication.
NEXT UP: The winner of the Ivy League championship series will earn a spot in the 2011 NCAA tournament field.
