ITHACA, N.Y. -- With Ivy League play now beginning, the Cornell softball team will attempt build some momentum as it heads into an 11-game road trip beginning with Wednesday's contests at Binghamton and continuing into a weekend series with Ivy rival Penn. The doubleheader at Binghamton will be broadcast on ESPN3, while the three-game set at Penn will all be featured on ESPN+.

The Big Red is 3-5 over its last eight games, dropping a pair of those games by a single run. Its walk-off win in game two of Friday's doubleheader against defending Ivy runner-up Columbia showed again that Cornell is on the right track. Cornell rallied from a 4-0 deficit with sophomore Marisa Zorrilla's two-out RBI single plating the winning run against the Lions.

Cornell's three pitchers have shouldered the load of keeping the Big Red in games, sporting a 4.59 ERA and with all three players between 4.56 and 4.67. The group has issued just 28 walks in 93.0 innings of work and is limiting opponents to a .308 batting average. Mia Burd (2-4, 4.59 ERA) and Maxine McCraw (2-2, 4.67 ERA) both have a pair of wins in the circle, with Gabrielle Maday sporting an 0-5 record, but with a team-leading 4.56 ERA and 18 strikeouts. 

The Big Red's struggles at the plate continue, as Cornell is hitting just .178 as a team with no one hitting better than .250. Lilly Travieso is batting .250 to lead the team, while Emily McKinney is hitting 237 with two doubles, a home run and seven RBI. Hanna Crist has a team-high three home runs and has driven in seven herself. Zorrilla, the hero in game two, has scored five times and has 11 walks, nearly twice as many as any other player.

The Bearcats are 12-11 on the season and have won three of their past four games entering the midweek doubleheader. Four regulars are hitting better than .310, with Sarah Rende pacing the team with three home runs and Alli Richmond having slugged 11 doubles with a team-high 12 RBI. Allison L'Amoreaux is 7-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 73.1 innings of work with 60 strikeouts. Head coach Jess Bump is in her first year directing the Binghamton program after five years as the Bearcats' top assistant.

Penn is 7-16 on the season and has a 3-3 Ivy record after winning 2-of-3 games at Brown, including a 3-0 shutout in the weekend finale. The Quakers have a midweek contest vs. Lehigh on the schedule. Four Penn regulars are batting better than .320, with Dana Anderson and Sarah Schneider combining for 10 doubles, 10 home runs and 26 RBI. Payton Bean leads the Quakers in the circle with a 3-7 record and a 5.63 ERA. Leslie King is in her 19th season as head coach and has won 345 career games entering the week.