Columbia Set to Host Weekend Series against Cornell

Saturday, April 13

New York, N.Y.

1:30 P.M.

Columbia University

Cornell

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

Columbia Set to Host Weekend Series against Cornell

4/12/2019 3:39:00 PM | Softball

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Lions look to separate from the pack as Ivy season reaches halfway point

NEW YORK — With one game separating the top five teams in the Ivy League standings, the Columbia softball team (14-15, 6-3 Ivy) looks to separate itself from the pack as it hosts Cornell (6-25, 2-7 Ivy) for a three-game set. Weekend action from the Columbia Softball Stadium begins Saturday with a doubleheader at 12:30 p.m. The final game of the series is slated for the same time on Sunday.

All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+. ESPN+ is a new, subscription-based service that offers monthly ($4.99) and yearly ($49.99) plans. Click here to subscribe to ESPN+ and start your free trial. Click here for frequently asked questions about the Ivy League on ESPN.

Live stats will be provided through GoColumbiaLions.com. Fans can also keep up with the action on Twitter by following @CULionsSoftball.

LAST TIME OUT
The Lions hope to turn things around after dropping three of their last four entering the weekend. Monmouth handed Columbia its first home loss of the year on Wednesday, 8-2, limiting the Lions to just three hits on the afternoon. The defeat came on the heels of a three-game weekend series at Harvard that saw the Crimson take two of three. Columbia was able to win the middle game, 10-9, behind a seven-run second that included a three-run homer from Max Ortega. Abby Stuart hit a two-run shot in the sixth to pad the lead before Columbia held off Harvard's rally in the seventh.

IVY LEAGUE STANDINGS

Rk.	Team	Ivy League	Games Back
1.	Penn	8-4	--
2.	Columbia	6-3	0.5
	Harvard	6-3	0.5
	Princeton	6-3	0.5
5.	Yale	7-5	1.0
6.	Dartmouth	3-6	3.5
7.	Cornell	2-7	4.5
8.	Brown	1-8	5.5

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Columbia plays three of its final four Ivy League series at home, where they are a combined 21-9 (.700) over the last three seasons. The Lions are 3-0 against league competition this season at home, sweeping defending co-champion Dartmouth the weekend of March 23-24. Following this weekend's series against Cornell, the Lions travel to Yale before closing out the year with back-to-back home series against Penn (April 27-28) and Brown (May 4-5).

COLUMBIA BULLETS
- Columbia enters the week in a virtual four-way tie for first place in the Ivy League standings. Penn (8-4), which has played an extra series over Columbia, Harvard and Princeton, technically leads the league by a half a game. However, the Lions, Crimson and Tigers (6-3) are all one game up on the Quakers in the loss column. Yale (7-5) sits in fifth, just a game back of first place.

- Sophomore shortstop Maria Pagane and junior outfielder Genny Soltesz were named to the Ivy League Honor Roll on Monday. Both hit 6-for-13 (.462) at the plate over four games. Pagane slugged .769 for the week with a double, a homer and four RBIs.

- Columbia leads the Ivy League in home runs (17) and ranks among the Ancient Eight's top three in batting average (.275), runs (123), hits (199), doubles (35), RBIs (110), total bases (295) and slugging (.408).

- Sophomore Max Ortega ranks among the Ivy League's top five in batting average (.389), runs (20), hits (35), doubles (8), RBIs (21) and total bases (51).

- Junior Sommer Grzybek leads the Ivy League in home runs (6) and ranks third in slugging (.702).

- First-year Abby Stuart ranks among the top 10 in the Ivy league in RBIs (18), home runs (4) and slugging (.525).

- Maria Pagane is hitting .500 in Ivy League play (15-for-30), ranking fourth across league games in batting average.

- First-year pitcher Alexa Pinarski (8-6) leads the Ivy League in wins and has thrown five complete games this season, tied for third-most in the league. She carries a record of 4-1 against Ivy League competition.

- Junior Madison Canby (5-6) ranks second in the Ivy League in complete games (6) and leads the Columbia pitching staff with a 3.63 ERA, 39 strikeouts and 73.1 innings pitched.

IVY LEAGUE WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
February 25: Sommer Grzybek – Player of the Week
March 18: Max Ortega – Player of the Week
March 25: Max Ortega – Player of the Week

IVY LEAGUE WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
February 25: Madison Canby, Max Ortega, Abby Stuart
March 4: Erin Gallo, Maria Pagane
March 18: Sommer Grzybek, Alexa Pinarski, Alex Yule
March 25: Madison Canby, Amanda Nishihira, Maria Pagane, Alexa Pinarski
April 1: Maria Pagane, Alexa Pinarski
April 8: Maria Pagane, Genny Soltesz

SCOUTING CORNELL
Cornell fields one of the youngest teams in college softball, with seven of the squad's nine position players and one of the squad's two starting pitchers in their freshmen seasons. Despite their youth, the Big Red are tied for the league lead in home runs (17) and are second in doubles (40) and walks (75). Cornell is 3-6 in its last nine contests after going 3-19 to begin the year. Freshman Allison Kerce is hitting .323 with five home runs and 18 RBIs. Her numbers Ivy play are even better, where she is hitting .424 with a league-high four homers. Freshman Ashley Delany (3-8, 7.63 ERA) and junior Katie Lew (3-12, 9.09 ERA) have done the majority of the work in the circle.

THE SERIES
Cornell leads the all-time series, 39-22, but the Lions are 6-5 against the Big Red since 2016. Last season, Columbia outscored Cornell 39-27 over three games to win the series in Ithaca. The Lions scored 15 runs in each of the first two games, which were its most in a single game since scoring 16 against Brown in 2011.