NEW YORK – The Columbia softball team (19-18, 11-7 Ivy) concludes the regular season with a three-game series at Cornell (12-21, 7-8 Ivy) this Saturday and Sunday. The series begins with a doubleheader Saturday at 10:30 a.m., followed by the series and regular season finale on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

The Ivy League Network will carry all three games. Live stats will be provided by CornellBigRed.com.

IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES SCENARIOS
Columbia enters the final weekend in third place in the Ivy League standings, two games back in the loss column of both Harvard (13-5 Ivy) and Dartmouth (10-5 Ivy). Harvard ends the regular season this weekend with a three-game series at Brown (3-12 Ivy). Dartmouth has two Ivy weekends remaining, hosting Yale (6-12 Ivy) this weekend and Brown next weekend.

The top two teams in the standings at the end of the regular season qualify for the Ivy League Championship Series (May 12-13). Columbia would need to finish ahead of Harvard or Dartmouth in the standings to qualify for the Championship Series. If the Lions tie either team, they would not qualify by virtue of losing both tiebreaks (head-to-head records).

LEADING OFF
- Columbia (11-10 Ivy) has clinched its first winning Ivy League season in program history. The Lions went .500 to other times, going 7-7 in both 2004 and 2005.

- Senior Taylor Troutt was named one of six finalists for the 2017-18 William V. Campbell Female Performer of the Year Award, presented annually at Columbia's Varsity C Celebration. Troutt is hitting .431 with a .496 on-base percentage and .716 slugging percentage, all of which rank among the top three in the Ivy League. The second baseman has reached base safely in 32 of 37 games this season, including a season-long 24-game on-base streak from March 11 – April 21. Troutt leads the Ivy League in doubles (13) and is also No. 2 in RBIs (29), No. 2 in hits (47), No. 2 in total bases (78) and tied for fifth in home runs (6). In Ivy League play, the League City, Texas, native is hitting an even more impressive .464 to lead all competitors, also boasting .524 OBP and .732 slugging.

- Senior Madison Gott is hitting .344 and leads the Ivy League in doubles (13), home runs (7), RBIs (32) and total bases (89). She is also No. 2 in runs (30), No. 3 in hits (45), No. 2 in triples (5) and No. 3 in slugging (.679), Gott owns Columbia's longest hitting streak of the season, when she strung together 12 straight from March 17 – April 6, hitting .468 with four homers, 14 runs and 15 RBIs.

- Gott has scored 94 career runs, entering the weekend two runs from breaking the career record of 95 set by Keli Leong (2005-09).

- Sophomore Sommer Grzybek was named Ivy League Player of the Week on Monday. Grzybek hit .500 (5 for 10) with a .583 on-base percentage and .900 slugging percentage in four games last week. She led the Columbia offense to a series victory over defending Ivy League champion Princeton, going 5 for 7 (.714) across the three games with a home run, a double, four runs and four RBIs. She also worked two walks in the series and hit a sixth-inning, walk-off home run to clinch a 9-1 victory in game one.

- First-year Max Ortega and sophomore Erin Gallo were named to last week's Ivy League Honor Roll. Gallo tossed her second shutout of the season in game two of the series against Princeton, allowing just three hits and striking out four. Ortega hit .364 through the week with a double and two RBIs.

- First-year Maria Pagane was named one of four finalists for Columbia's Female Rookie of the Year Award, presented at the Varsity C Celebration. Pagane shares the Ivy League lead in home runs (7) and is among the top-10 in runs (27), RBIs (24) and total bases (64). She was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week back on March 5.

- Columbia has hit 38 home runs to once again break the program record for home runs in a season. They rank 25th in the NCAA in home runs per game (1.03) this season.

- Columbia ranks No. 30 nationally in slugging (.473), No. 33 in scoring (5.54 runs/game) and 27th in triples per game (0.30).

SCOUTING CORNELL
Cornell (12-21, 7-8 Ivy) has lost seven of its last eight overall and five of its last six Ivy League games. The Big Red were swept at Dartmouth two weeks ago, getting outscored 25-6 in the series. After dropping 12-1 and 7-0 games at Penn, they snapped the losing streak with an 8-4 victory on getaway day. They played a midweek game against local-rival Ithaca College on Wednesday and were defeated, 8-4. Erin Rockstroh leads the team and the Ivy League in batting average at .438. Megan Murray is hitting .396 with a team-best 10 doubles. Bridgette Rooney leads the team with six home runs and 18 RBIs, hitting .239 on the campaign. The pitching staff carries a 4.71 team ERA, led by Lisa Nelson (7-6) and Katie Lew (5-9). Both have tossed nine complete games, with Nelson carries a 3.74 ERA in 82 1-3 innings and Lew holding a 4.59 ERA in 90 innings. Nelson's strikeout rate is much higher, setting down 76 compared to Lew's 28.

THE SERIES
Cornell leads the all-time series, 38-20. The two sides split a four-game series last season in New York. They also split a four-game set two years ago in Ithaca.

THREE-HOMER THIRDS
Columbia hit three home runs in the third inning of an, 8-2, series-opening win at Brown (April 13). Madison Gott and Sommer Grzybek hit back-to-back home runs to start the inning before Amanda Nishihira hit her Ivy League-leading seventh to make it an 8-0 game. Columbia started the inning with six consecutive extra-base hits. It marked the second time this season the Lions hit three home runs in an inning, also doing so in the third inning on March 28 against Fairfield. Columbia went on to win that game in extra innings, 11-10.

IVY LEAGUE POWERHOUSE
Columbia is the class of the Ivy League in terms of offensive power. The Lions lead the conference in hits (293), runs (205), doubles (54), home runs (38), RBIs (181), total bases (483), slugging percentage (.473) and even walks (114). The Lions are hitting .301 in Ivy League play and rank at or near the top of the conference in most offensive categories, including hits (151), doubles 930), triples (4), home runs (20) and RBIs (94).

GOTT RECORDS?
Madison Gott is Columbia's career leader in home runs (29), doubles (41), RBIs (116) and total bases (322). The senior also ranks third in batting average (.323), third in hits (184), second in slugging (.562) and second in runs scored (94). Last season, Gott broke the program's single-season records in batting average (.381), hits (59), total bases (102) and RBIs (40), while tying the home run record (10).

HITTING STREAKS
Senior Madison Gott hit .468 through a 12-game hitting streak that spanned March 17 – April 6. Gott had 22 hits, 15 RBIs, 14 runs scored, six doubles, two triples and four home runs over the three-week span.

Sophomore Sommer Grzybek had an 11-game hitting streak from Feb. 24 – March 13. Grzybek hit .417 along the way with four runs and six RBIs, also walking four times and stealing two bases.

A FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC
Columbia has gone to extra innings five times this season and holds a record of 4-1 in those games. The Lions walked off against Virginia (March 3) in nine innings on Amanda Nishihira's three-run homer in the ninth, winning the game 11-8. Madison Gott hit an eighth-inning home run in both game one and game two of a three-game series against Penn (March 17), helping the Lions win by scores of 8-6 and 9-7. Columbia also walked off in the ninth against Fairfield (March 28) on Gott's double to defeat the Stags, 11-10.

Adding to the drama, six of Columbia's last 12 games have been decided by one run, including all three games at Dartmouth. The Lions hit three home runs to earn an 8-7 victory over Manhattan (April 11)

GOTT MAKES NATIONAL HEADLINES
Senior infielder Madison Gott made national headlines when she was named Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week (March 20). Gott batted .474 with a .524 OBP, 1.000 slugging percentage, three home runs, five runs and eight RBIs through five games. The highlight of her week came in Saturday's Ivy League opener against Penn, when she hit game-winning home runs in both of Columbia's extra-inning victories. Her first came in the eighth inning of game one to win it, 8-6 (8), and her second game in the eighth of game two, winning the game, 9-7 (8). Gott went on to hit her third two-run home run of the series on Sunday, finishing the first weekend of Ivy play 7 for 13 with five runs and six RBIs. The national player of the week recognition is the first in Columbia softball program history. The senior was also named Ivy League Player of the Week for a second time this season.

Headline: Gott Selected NFCA National Player of the Week

HOME COOKIN'
The Lions are 8-4 at home this season after going 10-4 (.714) a year ago. Last year's team tied the program record from 2014 for home winning percentage (15-6, .714). The 2017 Lions won their first eight home games, marking the longest home winning streak since the 2014 team won its first 12. Columbia started the Ivy League season at home last year with a four-game weekend sweep over Dartmouth and Harvard. The Lions won three of those four games in walk-off fashion, including a ninth-inning home run by Sommer Grzybek in game two against Dartmouth.

IVY LEAGUE WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
March 5 – Player of the Week – Madison Gott
March 5 – Rookie of the Week – Maria Pagane
March 19 – Player of the Week – Madison Gott
April 23 – Player of the Week – Sommer Grzybek 

IVY LEAGUE WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
February 26 – Erin Gallo, Maria Pagane
March 5 – Madison Canby, Taylor Troutt
March 12 – Sommer Grzybek, Olivia Parker, Taylor Troutt
March 19 – Erin Gallo, Max Ortega, Taylor Troutt
March 27 – Madison Gott, Madison Canby, Maria Pagane
April 2 – Madison Gott, Taylor Troutt, Maria Pagane
April 9 – Taylor Troutt, Erin Gallo, Max Ortega
April 16 – Taylor Troutt, Madison Canby, Maria Pagane, Max Ortega
April 23 – Erin Gallo, Max Ortega

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