ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell softball team plays its first non-conference home series of the season when Central New York rival Colgate visits Niemand•Robison Field on Tuesday, April 9 at 2:30 p.m. Both games will be available on ESPN+.

After struggling out of the gates to a 1-14 record, Cornell has gone 4-10 since while regularly starting seven freshmen. The Big Red will be looking to snap out of an offensive slump that has seen Cornell shutout in consecutive games for the first time since its first weekend outside this spring. Cornell sits with a 5-24 overall mark (2-7 Ivy) after being swept by Penn in a three-game set last weekend.

Six of the top seven hitters this season for head coach Julie Farlow's team are freshmen, and 182 of the 270 starts this year have been made by first year players (67 percent). Rookie Allison Kerce paces the team in batting at .337 and has three doubles, five home runs and 17 RBI. Junior Bridgette Rooney is hitting .317 with five doubles, four home runs and a team-best 19 RBI, while rookies Hanna Crist (.250, three home runs, 14 RBI) and Emily McKinney (.244, three home runs, 11 runs scored) are both climbing. The Big Red paces the Ivy League in home runs (17) and is second in doubles (38). Junior Katie Lew (3-11, 9.37 ERA) and freshman Ashley Delany (2-8. 7.62 ERA) have thrown the lion's share of innings in the circle, combining for eight complete games in 24 starts. As a team, Cornell is fielding at a .950 clip behind them.
 
Colgate is 16-17 on the season and sports a 3-3 Patriot League record heading into the midweek doubleheader. The Raiders sport a three-game win streak and is hitting .287 as a team. Meghan Romero leads five regulars hitting .300 or better with a .374 marks and a team-best 40 hits, 14 doubles and 20 runs scored. Jordan Miller is hitting .340 with six home runs and a team-best 26 RBI and Virginia Irby is at .327 with nine doubles, four home runs and a .431 on-base percentage. Bella Crow (8-7, 3.76 ERA) leads the way for the Raiders in the circle with 17 starts in the team's 33 games, while both Jessica Hay (5-8, 5.08 ERA) and Kaitlyn Borruso (3-2, 5.35 ERA) have also thrown more than 50 innings. Colgate is fielding at a .953 clip behind its pitching staff. Head coach Marissa Lamison-Myers is in her second season in the dugout for the Raiders and has posted a 27-49 record. Colgate has already surpassed the team's win total from Lamison-Myers' first season (11-32).
 
Cornell leads the all-time series 16-11-1 and is 5-5-1 in Ithaca. The Raiders are 4-1-1 in the last six contests between the teams. Cornell's last win over Colgate in Ithaca came in 2011 when the Big Red swept a doubleheader from the Raiders, 2-0 and 8-0.
 
Cornell heads to New York City for a three-game series with Ivy League contender Columbia beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 13 at 12:30 p.m. The two teams will also meet for a single game on Sunday, April 14 at 12:30 p.m. The Big Red leads the all-time series 39-22, though the Lions have won four of the last five matchups.