ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell softball team will continue its nine-game road swing through spring break week with three straight doubleheaders beginning on Tuesday, April 3. In consecutive days, the Big Red will play contests against Mount St. Mary's, Morgan State and Bucknell.

Cornell is 8-12 (3-3 Ivy) on the season thanks in large part to an improved pitching staff that has significantly cut down its walks and lowered its ERA by more than a run and a half to 3.78 - second in the Ancient Eight. Lisa Nelson is 5-4 overall with a 2.88 ERA and has seven complete games in 10 starts. She has struck out 54 in 58.1 innings of work and is allowing opponents to bat just .278 against her. Katie Lew is 307 with a solid 3.86 ERA and has registered six complete games in eight starts.

Despite a quiet weekend with the bats, the Cornell offense is hitting .281 with five regulars hitting better than .300 - including Erin Rockstroh (.456) and Rebecca Kubena (.412) each hitting better than .400. Three hitters have double digit RBI, including senior Tori Togashi (11) and sophomore Bridgette Rooney (10), who have combined for all five of the team's home runs. Senior Megan Murray is batting .385 with a team-best seven doubles and a .437 on-base percentage, second on the team behind only Rockstroh (.523).

A year ago, the Big Red didn't pick up its eighth win or its third Ivy League victory until April 15, and now it will attempt to build some momentum heading into a key conference series at home against Brown this weekend.

Spring Break week starts at Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday, April 3 at 3 p.m. The Mount is 8-16 overall and 0-2 in Northeast Conference and will be attempting to snap a three-game skid. Struggling at the plate (.201 team batting average), the Mount has taken advanage of its speed (21 stolen bases and its power (13 home runs). Shelbee Holcomb (.348) paces the team in batting average, while Lindsay Heinze (.313, six home runes, 20 RBI) has been the most dangerous face at the plate. In the circle, Jordan weaver (4-7, 4.37 ERA, 42 strikeouts in 67.1 innings) has done a majority of the work in the circle, with both Katie Olson (2-2, 4.35 ERA) and Amanda Berkley (2-4, 6.61 ERA) also hurling key innings for eighth-year head coach Anna Nagro. Cornell leads the all-time series 5-3-1, including consecutive wins spanning the 2015 and 2017 seasons.

Morgan State will host the Big Red on Wednesday, April 4 at 2:30 p.m. with a three-game win streak in tow to even its record overall (13-13) and improve to 4-2 in the MEAC. The Bears are hitting .272 as a team with Damali Young hitting .418 to lead the group. She has nine doubles, three home runs and 27 runs scored in 26 games with 14 stolen bases and a .470 on-base percentage. Giselle Alvarez (.351, two home runs, 24 runs scored) and Gabriella Gorosave (.337, 23 RBI) are also hitting better than .300. The pitching tandem of Amy Begg (8-6, 2.58 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 89.2 innings) and Stephanie Rundlett (5-6, 3.63 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 73.1 innings) spearhead a staff with a 3.31 team ERA. Fourth-year head coach Larry Hineline is also the all-time winningest head coach at Coppin State. Cornell is 3-0 in the all-time series with a doubleheader sweep in 2015 in Baltimore and a 3-2 win a year ago in Emmitsburg, Md.

Also sporting a three-game win streak is Bucknell, who enters the week 12-18 overall and 4-2 in Patriot League play. Lauren Hadley leads the offense with a .330 batting average and has driven in 16, while Meghan Kovac has a team-high nine home runs and a .640 slugging percentage while batting .270. Kovac is the school's single-season (nine) and career (21) home run leader. Raeanne Geffert is 8-7 with a 2.17 ERA and has 85 strikeouts in 96.2 innings of work in the circle for a staff that has a collective 3.42 ERA. Head coach Joey Lye is in her first season directing the Bison program and is a member of the Canadian national team. The Big Red sports a 10-5 lead in the all-time series, though the Bison swept a pair of contests in 2015 the last time the two programs met.