ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell softball team will begin its Spring Break trip with a third consecutive weekend in Fairfax, Va. when it competes in the Mason Cherry Blossom Classic on Saturday and Sunday, March 17-18. The Big Red will play four games at the George Mason Softball Complex over the two days.

Cornell will open the weekend on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. against Bowling Green, then meets the host school at 3 p.m., the first of two games against the Patriots on the weekend. The Big Red will then play Albany on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. before closing the tournament against George Mason at 3:45 p.m. It will be the fourth and fifth matchup between the Big Red and the Patriots over the first three weeks, with GMU winning the first three meetings, scoring just two runs in those three games.

Coming into the season, the big question was how the Big Red pitching would respond after the loss of two-time Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Elizabeth Dalrymple to graduation. The group of seniors Lauren Marx (1-1, 2.40 ERA) and Jenna Stoller (0-2, 2.03 ERA), sophomore Alyson Onyon (2-1, 2.37 ERA) and freshman Brittany Sutton (1-0, 3.68 ERA) have done a nice job in the circle, keeping the Big Red in every game. Opponents are hitting just .242 and are slugging just .321.

Cornell's offense has gotten off to a slow start, hitting just a collective .225 with an on-base percentage of .283. Senior Erin Keene is off to an outstanding start, hitting a team-best .409 with three doubles and a home run. The only other regular hitting .300 or better is sophomore Sam Creamer, who is batting .313 with a double and a homer in 16 at bats. While Cornell has struggled to hit safely, it has done a nice job putting the ball in play, striking out just 27 times in eight contests (3.4 per game). The team is fielding at a .947 clip, but that jumped to .960 in its second weekend outside after struggling some over its first four games.

After going 27-22-1 a season ago and claiming a third consecutive South Division title, head coach Dick Blood's squad will be looking for its 16th consecutive season with at least 25 wins. Blood is the all-time winningest coach in Cornell athletics history for a single sport and enters the weekend with 546 triumphs (546-247-2) and five conference crowns.

Bowling Green, under sixth-year head coach Shannon Salsburg, has posted a 10-7 record and has nearly surpassed last season's win total already. Paige Berger and Kattie Yoho lead the way offensively, hitting .429 and .370, respectively. Berger has five doubles, three home runs and 16 RBI, while Yoho has hit seven home runs and driven in 20 RBI. The Falcons have hit 17 homers as a team in 17 games. In the circle, the team's top starter has been Paris Imholz at 5-3 with a 1.85 ERA. The Falcons return eight starters and 11 letter winners from last season's 12-32 team. Big Red won its only other matchup with Bowling Green, taking a 7-0 win during the 2008 campaign.

George Mason returns 13 position players and three starting pitchers from last season's squad that went 19-25. The Patriots are currently 6-10 heading into a pair of midweek games thanks to the big bat of Brooke Blankenship (.396, 2 HR, 9 RBI). GMU's pitchers have combined to allow opponents to hit .289 and have posted a 3.70 ERA with 43 walks and 47 strikeouts in 104.0 innings of work thus far. The Patriots are 5-2 in their last seven contests heading into the week. George Mason leads the all-time series 11-10 and is one of just five schools that Cornell has played more than 10 times that holds a winning record against the Big Red (joining Harvard, Princeton, Stetson and Syracuse).

Picked to finish second in the preseason America East Coaches Poll, Albany has won four straight league crowns. The Great Danes, coming off a 28-23 overall record and a 14-4 finish in the America East, have had five straight contests decided by one run. Charlise Castro had four home runs in 10 games, while reigning conference rookie of the year Brittany MacFawn has struck out 25 in 23.0 innings of work in the circle this season. After two weekends of competition, Albany sports a 5-5 record and has won five of its last seven. Albany and Cornell are tied 5-5 in the all-time series.