Columbia University
Cornell
Softball Splits Home Doubleheader With Cornell
4/19/2015 4:51:00 PM | Softball
Box Score Game 1 | Box Score Game 2
NEW YORK - The Columbia softball team knocked off Cornell in the first half of a home doubleheader, 6-3, before falling to the Big Red in game two, 5-3. With the split, the Lions are now 14-24 overall, and 6-10 in conference play.
Cornell started fast in the first game, putting Columbia in an early 3-0 hole after the first inning. The Lions battled back in the first, when Taylor Troutt drove in Alix Cook and Olivia Parker on a single up the middle.
Columbia scored one run in the second and third innings before posting a crooked number in the fourth. Shelby Unger knocked in Parker on an RBI double to center and Tonia Wu, who started at pitcher, drove in Unger in the next at-bat to put the Lions up, 6-3, after four complete.
Wu would settle down after the big first from the Big Red, not allowing another hit until the fifth inning. The sophomore picked up her seventh win of the season in a complete game during which she gave up just the three earned runs in the first.
Parker and Wu led the way on offense with two hits each, while Parker tallied two runs. Troutt led the RBI category with two, while Unger, Wu, Madison Gott and Kayla Shimoda had one each.
The momentum from the six-run first game was carried over into game two, as the Lions scored twice in the bottom of the first inning. A Gott single scored Alix Cook and Kerry Cook drove in Parker to give Columbia a 2-0 lead after one.
Tessa Kroll got the start in the second game, and got Columbia out of multiple jams along the way. The junior did not allow a run in the first five innings, as Kroll left eight batters stranded through five.
Cornell would tie the game 3-3 in the sixth inning, tallying three runs on three hits and two Columbia errors. Kroll again was clutch, stranding three runners in the sixth to keep the game tied.
In the top of the seventh, the Big Red struck again adding two more runs to take a 5-3 lead. The Lions were unable to get anything across in the bottom of the inning to fall by that same score.
Kroll took the loss, going seven innings, giving up five runs (three earned) on 11 hits while striking out two. Wu and the Cook sisters had two hits each in game two.
Up next, Columbia will travel to Rider on Tuesday for the final non-conference doubleheader of the season.
