NEW YORK -- The Columbia University softball team tallied 16 hits and took home a 10-5 victory over Brown in the second game of an Ivy League doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Columbia Softball Stadium. The Lions received three hits apiece from senior Dani Pineda, and juniors Maggie Johnson and Anne Marie Skylis.
In the first game of the day, the Lions loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but the rally attempt was denied as the Bears took the contest, 3-0.
After a bizarre play took Columbia out of its first-inning rally, the Lions finally got their offense clicking in the bottom of the second. Johnson led off the inning with a solo home run to left to put the home team out in front, 1-0. For the junior co-captain, it was the 10th home run of her career and puts her one behind the Columbia career mark of 11 set by Kacy Krisman '07CC and Taylor Tierney '06CC.
First-year Chrisite Taylor followed the blast with a single of her own, and junior Stephanie Yagi continued the barrage with a long hit over the left fielder's head. The lined shot forced Taylor to hold up between first and second base, and the hesitation would cost the Lions as Yagi kept running and did not see her teammate stop at second. The result would be the Bears' first baseman tagging Yagi out for the first of the inning.
The inning before, Columbia looked poised to take a lead even earlier. First-year Jennifer Bergeron and Pineda had back-to-back one-out singles to put a pair on with one out. Sophomore Kayla Lechler followed with a hard-hit liner right at the third baseman. After the catch, Brown's Stephanie Thompson fired to second for a double play. The throw, however, went wide of the base and allowed Bergeron to "tag" up and move to third.
Julianna Perez, who was playing right field for Brown, picked up the errant toss and tried to get Bergeron at third to no avail. In the process, Pineda was caught straying too far off first in an attempt to move up and was tagged out for the unconventional double play.
The hits would keep on coming after the base-running mistake in the second. Skylis roped a base hit to left and first-year Alison Lam bounced a hard-hit grounder up the middle to score Taylor and give Columbia a 2-0 lead.
From there, the Lions would make the lead 3-0 on their second home run of the game, this one from Pineda. The blast to center field was Pineda's fourth of the season, which ties her for fifth on Columbia's all-time single season chart.
Brown would take advantage of a pair of hit-by-pitches and an error to score four runs in the top of the fourth to take its first lead of the game, 4-3. Pinch-hitter Aly Caplan had a two-run double in the frame and the Bears pulled off a double steal for their fourth run.
Undaunted, Columbia would come right back the following inning with a five-spot. Bergeron drove the first run of the inning home on a squeeze bunt, and Lechler followed with an RBI single with one out to regain the lead. Johnson followed Lechler with a three-run double to left center that pushed the Lions' cushion to 8-4.
A leadoff homer in the sixth by Brown's Avery Silverstein brought the Bears to within three, but Columbia would respond with two more insurance runs in the bottom half. Lechler laced a single off the pitcher to bring in a run, and Taylor added to the lead with a sacrifice fly to score her.
Johnson, who came in at pitcher in the fourth inning, would work around a one-out walk in the seventh to finish off her fourth victory of the season. The righthander allowed just one hit (the solo homer to Silverstein) in 3 2/3 innings of work.
The first game of the day saw just three Lions reach base through the first six innings of play. With the game scoreless in the fourth, a two-run single by Brown catcher Amanda Asay put the visitors ahead. The Bears would add to their lead in the fifth as an error by the Lions on a fake double-steal attempt led to a score.
Columbia would go down fighting and would threaten in the bottom of the seventh. A single from Lechler with one down started things off, and Johnson followed with an opposite-field double. Taylor would walk to load the bases, but Brown pitcher Kristie Chin, who entered with a 5-0 record and a 0.95 ERA, was up to the challenge and retired the next two Lions to end the threat and the game.
First-year Maureen O'Kane pitched well but took the loss, allowing eight hits and two earned runs while striking out five in seven innings.
The Lions will return to action on Tuesday, April 6 as they take on Marist in a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.
