ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell freshman Bridgette Rooney's ninth home run of the season was a walk-off winner in game two as the Big Red split a doubleheader with Penn on Saturday afternoon at Niemand-Robison Field. Cornell (10-22-1, 4-10 Ivy) won game two 9-7 after dropping an 8-3 contest to the Quakers (16-18, 6-8 Ivy) in the opener.
Both games of Saturday's doubleheader went into the seventh inning tied, and both times Penn put a crooked number up on the board. In game two, Cornell went two runs better to salvage the split and surpass last season's win total overall and in conference play.
Game 1
Cornell rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the sixth to tie it up, only to watch Penn explode for five runs on seven straight hits in the top of the seventh to earn the win.
Bridgette Rooney was 2-for-3 with a triple and a walk to lead Cornell, but it was 14 Quaker hits – seven in the decisive seventh inning – that allowed the visitors to pull away for their sixth straight win in the series.
Leah Allen, Penn's career home run leader, started the seventh inning barrage with a one-out bomb to center that proved to be the winner. She was 2-for-4 with two RBI in the win. Jess England and starting pitcher Alexis Sargent each tallied three hits, with Sargent winning her 10th game of the season in the circle while scattering seven hits in the complete game victory.
Lisa Nelson took the loss despite 6.1 solid innings, allowing four earned runs. Six different Big Red players had a hit in the game.
Game 2
Rooney's walk-off three-run bomb helped Cornell rally after Penn scored two runs in the seventh to break a 5-5 tie. One batter earlier,
Megan Murray got the Big Red within a run with a single after
Jessica Bigbie and Sarah Murray opened the frame with hits off Alexis Sargent, Penn's game one winner.
Cornell had 12 hits in the nightcap, including three home runs.
Madeline Avery hit her fifth homer of the season and
Olivia Lam parked her fourth, with Avery's solo shot tying the game at 5-5 in the sixth inning.
Maddie Orcutt picked up the complete game win, giving up just six hits and striking out seven. Bigbie was 3-for-4 at the plate, while Avery and
Rebecca Kubena had two hits apiece.
Penn led 5-0 after three and a half innings, but Lam's three-run homer got the home team back in the game.
Corey Burrough, who entered the weekend with zero home runs, hit two in game two and three on the day for the Quakers. The loss snapped a six-game win streak in the series for Penn.
