MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – Cornell softball opened its season at The Spring Games on Friday, Feb. 21, defeating Albany by a final score of 12-5 at R.O.C. Park in Madeira Beach, Fla. The Big Red received strong performances at the plate and in the circle on its way to victory over the 2018 America East Conference champions.
 
Senior Bridgette Rooney turned in a spotless 5-for-5 performance at the plate, scoring three runs and driving in two. Rooney's sixth inning long ball was the 25th of her career and gave the Big Red a commanding 9-3 lead. Freshman Mia Burd and sophomore Ashley Delany combined to strikeout 12 Great Danes batters on Friday, tying the program mark for the eighth-most strikeouts in a game. Burd (1-0) pitched six innings and struck out 10 batters in her collegiate debut. No Cornell pitcher has struck out 10 or more batters in a game since 2014.
 
Sophomore's Emily McKinney and Olivia Rooney also earned multi-hit games for Cornell, each finishing the day 2-for-4 at the dish. McKinney was brought around to score three times, while Rooney drove in a sixth-inning baserunner with a two-out triple down the right field line.
 
Freshman Maicie Levitt and sophomore Hanna Crist also started their seasons with round-trippers, both homering to center field in the third inning. Alongside Levitt, senior Erin Rockstroh and freshman Celia Macari each walked twice. Macari tied Crist and Bridgette Rooney for the team-high in RBI with two.
 
Singles from B. Rooney and Macari got Cornell out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first before Albany added a run in the home half of the opening inning. After a scoreless second inning, a pair of home runs from Levitt and Crist broke the game open in the third to give the Big Red a 6-1 lead. The Great Danes added runs of their own in the fourth and fifth innings, but a bases loaded walk from Rockstroh saw Cornell's lead shrink to 7-3 heading into the top of the sixth.
 
The Big Red tacked on five runs in the sixth inning to put the game out of reach for Albany. Bridgette Rooney's one-out blast put the Big Red up 9-3 before Olivia Rooney's two-out triple added a 10 run to the scoreboard. A pair of walks from Macari and Rockstroh loaded the bases for Brianna Straley, who brought Olivia Rooney home to score on a single. Allison Kerce capped off the scoring for Cornell, reaching on an error in the sixth to score Macari from third.
 
Albany scored twice in the home half of the sixth, using a lead-off walk and three singles. Following a walk from Amanda Mosall and singles from Love Drumgole and Morgan Petty, Maranda Jimenez plated two with a two-out bases loaded single.
 
Typically a contender in the America East Conference, the Great Danes have finished with an overall record above .500 in each of the last nine seasons. Albany moved to 1-1 following its second game of the day, a 5-2 win over Providence. Drumgole led the team in hits with three, while Alexis Phillips, Kelly Barkevich and Petty each finished with two. Jimenez (0-1) took home the loss in the circle, allowing six earned runs on seven hits through the first three innings of play.
 
Up Next: Cornell plays twice in Madeira Beach on Saturday, Feb. 22, facing Georgetown at 11 a.m. and Merrimack at 4 p.m. Georgetown is 1-10 so far this season, while Merrimack is 0-1 in its first Division I season. Live stats will be provided by Georgetown here, while streaming is available for both games via a subscription to FloSoftball.