ITHACA, N.Y. -- Key late inning home runs nearly led the Cornell softball team to a pair of dramatic wins, but the Big Red settled for a split with visiting Brown on Sunday afternoon at Niemand*Robison Field. Cornell is now 2-14 (1-1 Ivy), while the Bears are 6-9 (1-1 Ivy).
Game One
Bridgette Rooney was 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs and six RBI, but Brown rallied from a 6-0 deficit early and overcame a Big Red rally to tie late for a 10-8 victory in extra innings.
Rooney blasted a first inning grand slam and tied it in the seventh with a two-run shot, doubling her RBI total for the season entering the game.
Emily Muniz added a pair of doubles as Cornell had 10 in the opener.
Miranda Lawson also had a big game at the plate, going 1-for-2 with three walks and a pair of runs scored, while
Emily McKinney was 1-for-2 with two walks, a pair of runs scored and two RBI.
A six-run fifth inning put Brown in the lead after trailing 6-0 after three. Rooney hit a grand slam in the first and plated wo in the second, highlighted by McKinney's double to center that scored two.
The Bears batted around in the fifth to take the lead with a bases loaded triple by Karina Chavarria the big blow. Trailing 8-6 entering the seventh, Cornell showed some grit in tying the contest on a McKinney walk and Rooney's second homer of the day (18th of her career), but the Bears put two more on the board in the eighth to pick up the win.
Lauren Innerst went the final seven innings, scattering seven hits and surrendering three earned runs while striking out seven to pick up the win. Delany suffered the loss with three runs allowed in the final 3.2 innings after
Katie Lew gave up four earned over 4.1 frames. She struck out four in the no decision.
Game Two
Cornell was able to hang around long enough for a big seventh inning, as the Big Red rallied from a 3-0 deficit on the strength of three key efforts by freshmen to even its Ivy record at 1-1.
Ashley Delany hurled three two-hit shutout innings and singled twice, including with one out in the seventh,
Hanna Crist was 2-for-3 with a home run to get Cornell on the board and classmate Allison Kearce blasted a three-run walk-off homer to hand the home team a doubleheader split.
Freshmen had all nine hits for the Big Red in a crisp, cleanly-played nightcap. Both Crist and Delany had a pair of hits, with Kearce,
Olivia Rooney,
Emily McKinney,
Ruby Sugayan and
Emily Muniz each collecting one.
Lisa Nelson earned the start in the circle and kept Cornell in the game, allowing five hits and just two earned runs over four innings before being lifted with a 3-0 deficit. Delany held the Bears at bay from there, giving up singles in both the sixth and the seventh, the second being erased by a highlight reel quality diving catch by Erin Rickstroh, who leapt to her feet and doubled up a runner at first for the inning-ending double play.
With one out in the seventh, Crist tomahawked a pick to left that hit the scoreboard, followed immediately by a single up the middle by Delany and another down the rightfield line by Muniz. After Cornell came down to its final out, Kerce crushed an 0-1 pitch to left-center that cleared the fence and gave the Big Red its first walk-off victory of the season.
The two teams will meet in the rubber game on Monday, March 25 at 2 p.m. at Niemand*Robison Field.
