ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell softball team will attempt to make up ground in the Ivy League South Division when it completes its regular season meetings against teams from the North when it visits Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend for doubleheaders. The Big Red will visit the Big Green on Friday, April 5 at 2 p.m., then heads to reigning Ivy champion Harvard on Saturday, April 6 at 12:30 p.m.

Cornell will hit the road for the first time in league play in 2013 with a 12-14 overall mark and having gone 4-2 in its last six contests. At 2-2, Cornell is a game behind both Penn and Princeton, who opened 3-1 last weekend at home against Harvard and Dartmouth. Cornell moved to 188-101 all-time in Ivy League play since joining the varsity ranks 20 years ago with its four-game split.

The Big Red is hitting .314 as a team with eight regulars hitting .300 or better. Junior Christina Villalon has been on a tear to raise her batting average to .405. She has a team-high 20 RBI and has added eight doubles, four home runs and is slugging .676. Not far behind is senior Erin Belles, who has five home runs in just 58 at bats while hitting .397. Returning first-team All-Ivy selection Lauren Bucolo is batting .365 and freshman Emily Weinberg is batting .353. Also hitting better than .300 are freshman Meg Parker (.333, four home runs, 18 RBI), Kristen Towne (.328, nine doubles), Linda Laeufer (.325) and Michiko McGivney (.304, four home runs, 10 RBI). Surging has been Jenny Edwards, who is now up to .282 with four home runs and 13 RBI.

The Big Red has been swinging a hot bat heading into the weekend, batting 336 as a team during its recent 4-2 surge, with Villalon (.458, four doubles, two home runs, 11 RBI), Belles (.455, two home runs), Bucolo (.450) and Weinberg (.409) all hitting well over .400 in the last six contests.

In the circle, junior Alyson Onyon is 9-7 with a save and a 3.04 ERA in 16 starts. Onyon has 10 complete games, including a shutout, and is allowing opponents to hit .251. The Big Red hurler has struck out 84 in 110.2 innings of work. Sammy Roth (2-3, 6.24 ERA) and Meg Parker (1-4, 6.28 ERA) have also seen significant time pitching for Cornell. The Big Red has struggled defensively after a hot start, committing 23 errors in its last 13 games to lower its fielding percentage from .970 to .957.

The Big Red is coming off its fourth straight Ivy League South Division title, sharing the crown with Penn, en route to a 25-23 season. It was the 16th consecutive year the Big Red won at least 25 games, and its 15-5 conference mark was the fourth time in six years the program has finished at .750 or better in Ivy play. Head coach Dick Blood is the all-time winningest coach in Cornell athletics history for a single sport and enters the week with 579 triumphs (579-280-2) and five conference crowns.

The Big Green split a pair of weekend doubleheaders against Columbia and Penn, winning game one both days by a combined 9-2 score and dropping the back ends both days. Sophomore pitcher Kristin Rumley has been a big part of the success, posting an 11-5 mark with a 1.92 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 102.1 innings of work in the circle. She is allowing opponents to hit just .222. Sporting a 12-14 overall record and a 2-2 mark in Ancient Eight play, Dartmouth enters the weekend to an identical record as the Big Red. Dartmouth is hitting .254 as a team with Katie McEachern leading the way at .382 with five home runs and 18 RBI. The Big Green has been susceptible to the stolen base, as opponents have swiped 52 bases in 53 attempts through 26 contests. Third-year head coach Rachel Hanson has helped her team already nearly surpass last season's win total (14).

Harvard brought a 9-14 overall mark and a 2-2 conference record into a midweek series against Providence and Friday's Ivy home opener against Columbia, but like Cornell is 4-2 in its last six. Andrea Del Conte is hitting .333 to lead the offense, while All-Ivy infielder Kasey Lange is hitting .309 with six home runs and 17 RBI. The pitching has been done by committee early in the season, with Morgan Groom (4-6, 2.11 ERA), Jamie Halula (2-3, 4.31 ERA) and Gabrielle Ruiz (3-4, 4.83 ERA) seeing almost all of the time in the circle. Longtime head coach Jenny Allard is heading towards her 500th career coaching victory and enters the week with a record of 471-356-2 over her 19 seasons.