ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell softball team split a doubleheader against three-time defending Ivy League South Division champion Penn, taking game one 6-2 before faltering late in a 7-6 defeat on Sunday afternoon at Niemand*Robison Field. The Big Red ended the weekend 9-18 (3-9 Ivy), while the Quakers are 16-15 (7-5 Iv).

Game One
Cornell raced out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and got a great outing from freshman Maddie Orcutt to make it stand up, snapping a seven-game losing streak with the victory.

Orcutt went the distance, scattering seven hits and allowing two earned runs in picking up her sixth win of the year in the circle.

Emily Weinberg was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI in the win, while both freshman Karlie Mellott and Megan Murray had a pair of hits, with both of Mellott's coming in the form of doubles.

The Big Red used some two-out magic in the first, taking advantage of a catcher's interference call and two hits to take a 2-0 lead, then used an even stranger second inning to add three more runs to the lead.

Weinberg's run-scoring single with one out was thrown around for two errors, allowing her to score on the base hit. In total, Penn had five errors in the contest and surrendered just three earned runs.

Penn scored single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to make the game interesting, but never brough the game-tying run to the plate.

Game Two
Penn scored four runs in the sixth to answer a five-spot by Cornell in the bottom of the fifth and salvage the split. Meg Parker was 2-for-4 with three RBI for the Big Red, who had eight players hit safely. Weinberg and Jessica Bigbie also had two hits apiece.

The Quakers held a 3-1 lead entering the fifth, but Cornell tagged the Penn pitching staff for six hits and five runs, the highlight coming on consecutive run-scoring doubles by Parker and Bigbie. At the end of five, the home team had regained a 6-3 advantage.

It wouldn't last long, as Penn struck back for four of its own in the top of the sixth, with Jurie Joyner's two-run home run putting the Quakers into the lead for good.

Cornell put the tying run on base in the seventh, but couldn't advance past first base as Penn completed its fourth straight series victory over the Big Red.