ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell softball team will play in its home away from home, as the Big Red travels to Fairfax, Va. for the George Mason Invitational. Head coach Julie Farlow's team will play five games against three opponents over the three-day weekend at the GMU Softball Complex.
The Big Red has played 78 games at George Mason dating back to 2005, going 43-35 overall. The team has traveled to Virginia each year over that span with the exception of 2015, when weather canceled its annual trip south. Last spring, Cornell split a pair of games in Fairfax, going 1-1 vs. both the host school and Siena - with three of the games being decided by a single run.
The Big Red will open the weekend against the host Patriots on Friday, March 15 at 3:45 p.m., then will face Sacred Heart and East Carolina on consecutive days. Cornell will square off with the Pioneers on Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17 at 11 a.m. both days, while battling the Pirates at 3:45 p.m. on Saturday and 1:15 p.m. the following day.
Cornell was 1-3 at last weekend's George Washington Colonial Classic, though it won its first game of the season with a 9-5 victory over Canisius. The Big Red raised its team batting average nearly 50 points over the four games, with the top four hitters in the freshmen class.
Miranda Lawson is batting .389 with a .542 on-base percentage through two weekends, leading the team in runs scored (six). Classmate
Allison Kerce also is hitting .320 with a home run and four RBI, while
Olivia Rooney and
Emily McKinney have added a team-best four doubles apiece at the plate.
Lisa Nelson (0-4, 6.05 ERA),
Ashley Delany (1-1, 6.18 ERA) and
Katie Lew (0-3, 8.87 ERA) have split the innings in the circle through two weekends.
The weekend games will be the final tuneups for the home and Ivy League opener the following weekend against Brown. The Big Red will host the Bears for a three-game set beginning with a 12:30 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, March 23 at 12:30 p.m. at Niemand*Robison Field.
