ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell softball continues a 12-game road trip and opens up play in the Ivy League South Division as part of a six-game week ahead for the Big Red. Cornell visits Syracuse for a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 10 at 3:30 p.m., then heads to Columbia for league contests on Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14 with first pitches scheduled for 12:30 p.m.

Cornell will face Columbia in a key South Division series with both teams sporting identical 4-4 records. While that mark would be good for a first place tie in the North Division, the two New York rivals sit tied for third in the South, three games behind Penn and a game behind Princeton. The Quakers and the Tigers meet in a four-game series in Philadelphia this weekend. Before that, Cornell will visit a Syracuse team that has had its number over the last five years.

The Big Red is hitting .309 as a team with seven regulars hitting .300 or better. Senior Erin Belles has been on a tear, raising her batting average to .406 with a team-high seven home runs. Christina Villalon is batting .396 wih 11 doubles, four home runs and a team-high 23 RBI. Returning first-team All-Ivy selection Lauren Bucolo is batting .361 and freshman Emily Weinberg is batting .341. Also hitting better than .300 are freshman Meg Parker (.337, four home runs, 20 RBI), Kristen Towne (.307, 10 doubles) and Michiko McGivney (.321, four home runs, 13 RBI). Surging has been Jenny Edwards, who is now up to .271 with four home runs and 14 RBI.

In the circle, junior Alyson Onyon is 10-9 with a save and a 3.72 ERA in 19 starts. Onyon has 11 complete games, including a shutout. The Big Red hurler has struck out 100 in 128.0 innings of work. Sammy Roth (3-3, 6.02 ERA) and Meg Parker (1-4, 6.28 ERA) have also seen significant time pitching for Cornell. The Big Red is fielding at a solid .960 clip, including a .979 field percentage in the team's eight Ivy League games.

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 581 triumphs (581-282-2) and five conference crowns.

At 13-20 overall, the Orange have struggled at the plate against one of the nation's top schedules. SU is hitting just .190 as a team, though it does have 28 home runs as a team in the 33 games. Syracuse is led by Jasmine Watson at .271 with six home runs, while Corinne Ozanne has four home runs and a team-high 23 RBI and Veronica Grant has hit seven home runs. Shirley Daniels has stolen 20 bases without being caught. In the circle, Lindsay Taylor is 4-12 with a solid 2.56 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 104.0 innings. Seventh-year head coach Leigh Ross has posted a 104-66 mark directing the program. Syracuse leads the all-time series between the teams 14-8 thanks to six straight wins between the squads. Over that span, the Orange has outscored the Big Red 43-3.

Columbia brings a 15-15 overall record (4-4 Ivy) into a Thursday doubleheader against Saint Peter's and is 4-2 in its last six games. The Lions have done it primarily with pitching, as Emily Kenyon (7-6, 2.46 ERA) and Brooke Darling (6-6, 2.71 ERA) have combined for 18 complete games. The lineup features four players hitting .330 or better entering the week, with Nicole Borchard leading the way at .367 with 23 RBI. Emily Snodgrass (.337, five home runs and 20 RBI), Emily Caruthers (.343, 14 stolen bases) and Alix Cook (.337, 14 RBI) have also been hot all season. Head coach Kayla Noonan returns five starters and nine letter winners from last season's 17-29 squad that went 7-13 in league play. The Big Red holds a commanding 28-10 edge all-time against the Lions, though the teams have split their last six games. Prior to that, Cornell had won 14 of its last 15 games.