ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell softball team will open Ivy League competition and play its first home game in 1,062 days when the Big Red meets Columbia for a three-game series beginning with a single game on Friday, March 25 at 2 p.m. at Niemand*Robison Field. The two teams will also play a doubleheader on Saturday, March 26 at 12:30 p.m.

Three classes of Big Red players will be playing their first varsity contests when they take the field on Friday, while the seniors have played just 17 in their four-year careers. They have every intention of making the most of the 15 scheduled home games remaining this spring.

Cornell brings a 3-9 mark into the Ivy League opener after going 2-3 this past weekend at the Penn State Tournament, sweeping UMass Lowell and dropping two contests on walk-off runs vs. Rider and the host Nittany Lions. 

The pitching staff has kept the Big Red in games so far this season, sporting a 3.97 ERA with seven complete games in 12 starts. Maxine McCraw has a 2-0 record with a 2.84 ERA in 12.1 innings, while both Gabrielle Maday (0-5, 1 save, 3.09 ERA in 31.2 innings) and Mia Burd (1-4, 1 save, 5.37 ERA in 30.0 innings) have thrown at least 30 innings in the circle.

Emily McKinney paces the offense with a .290 batting average, four runs scored, two doubles, a home run and seven RBI. Cornell is hitting just .175 as a team, but is coming around after a weekend where it hit 50 points better than its season average. Sophomore Lilly Travieso is tied for the team lead in hits (nine) and doubles (two).

The Lions, who competed in the Ivy 2019 Ivy League Championship Series, entered Wednesday's home opener against Iona with a 4-13 record. Columbia began conference competition last weekend, taking two-of-three contests at Penn this past weekend. Abby Stuart and Bubba Gleaves lead the way offensively, with both hitting .340 with Stuart adding three homers and 10 RBI, while Gleaves has 11 runs scored and eight RBI. In the circle, Jordan Hill sports a 2-3 record and a 3.53 ERA with a team-high 22 strikeouts in 43.2 innings of work with the Lions sporting a .966 fielding percentage in front of the pitching corps. Head coach Jennifer Teague is in her eighth season guiding the Lions' program and was named the 2019 Ivy League Coach of the Year.

Cornell leads the all-time series 39-25, with Cornell leading 22-11 at home. The Lions have had the better of the series recently, winning seven of eight and being run-ruled in each of its three matchups in 2019 at Columbia.