Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell softball team dropped its Ivy League-opening and home-opening doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, falling to reigning Ancient Eight North Division champ Dartmouth by scores of 5-1 and 8-2 at Niemand*Robison Field. The Big Red fell to 7-12 (0-2 Ivy), while the Big Green moved to 12-13 (2-0 Ivy) with the wins.

Game 1 – Box Score (PDF)
Dartmouth scored two runs in the first and three in the third and that was all Kristen Rumley needed. The Big Green hurler scattered three hits and allowed just one earned run while striking out nine in picking up the complete game victory.

Rumley's lone mistake was turned back around by senior Christina Villalon in a hurry, blasting a screamer over the leftfield fence for her first home run of the year and 13th of her career. Jenny Edwards and Emily Weinberg also had hits.

Sammy Roth came out of the bullpen and didn't allow a hit in the final four innings, striking out two and walking two.

A bases loaded walk and an RBI single got the visitors on the board in the first and two innings later Katie McEachern and Morgan McCalmon each slammed homers, the latter a two-run shot. It was McEarchern's fifth blast of the season. McCalmon finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBI.

Game 2 - Box Score (PDF)
Cornell answered back early in game two, taking a 2-1 lead in the second on an RBI double by Michiko McGivney and a go-ahead run-scoring single by Lauren Bucolo, but the lead was short-lived. The Big Green scored twice in the top of the third when Madeline Damore slammed a two-run homer to regain a 3-2 advantage.

Dartmouth answered with an insurance run in the sixth and a four-run seventh to put the game away highlighted by a bases clearing double by McCalmon. She went 2-for-4 with four RBI in the nightcap and also picked up the win in the circle, allowed three hits and two runs in four innings and striking out five.

Cornell's Michiko McGivney, making just her second appearance of the season, was a strong 3-for-3 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. Bucolo and Emily Weinberg also had singles in the loss.

The Big Red will play Harvard on Sunday, March 30 at 12:30 p.m. in an Ivy doubleheader.