ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell softball team kicked off Ivy League play with a doubleheader split with Brown, winning the opener 4-3 before dropping the nightcap 10-2 in five innings on Friday afternoon at Niemand*Robison Field. The Big Red moved to 4-9 (1-1 Ivy) with the split, while the Bears are 6-8 (1-1 Ivy).

Cornell held on for the win in game one after Brown rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Both Meg Parker and Megan Murray had a pair of RBI as the Big Red scored two runs in both the third and fifth innings. Freshman Maddie Orcutt picked up the complete game win to improve to 3-2 on the season by scattering seven hits and five walks while striking out four. She closed out the game by stranding the tying run at second to snuff out the rally. 

Parker's two-run single through the left side in the third scored Olivia May and Jessica Bigbie, who both singled earlier in the frame. Murray plated her first two runs at home in a Cornell uniform with a two-out single up the middle to make it 4-0 before the Big Red held on in the seventh.

Game two saw the Big Red surrender a six-run fourth to doom their comeback chances as the Bears pounded out 12 hits, including three each from Janet Leung and Yarem Park. Park drove in four runs in the win, while Jessica Cherness went the distance, allowing two runs on four hits in five innings to even her record at 2-2. Sophire Giaquinto and Leanne Iannucci each had doubles for the Big Red in the loss.

Cornell will square off with Yale in a Sunday conference doubleheader beginning at 12:30 p.m. at Niemand*Robison Field.