Softball Schedule Altered for Weekend Set at Yale

Sunday, April 21

New Haven, Conn.

11:30 A.M.

Columbia University

Yale

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

Softball Schedule Altered for Weekend Set at Yale

4/19/2019 1:49:00 PM | Softball

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Doubleheader moved to Sunday

SCHEDULE UPDATE: Saturday's series opener was postponed and will be made up at a later date. Sunday's doubleheader remains on schedule for 11:30 a.m.

NEW YORK — Entering the weekend tied atop the Ivy League standings, the Columbia softball team (17-16, 9-3 Ivy) travels to Yale (14-22, 8-7 Ivy) for its final road trip of the season. With rain in the forecast for Saturday, the three-game set has been altered. The first game will take place Saturday at 3 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 11:30 a.m.

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 by YaleBulldogs.com. Fans can also keep up with the action on Twitter by following @CULionsSoftball.

LAST TIME OUT
Columbia began a four-game road swing Wednesday at Fairfield, where the Lions were defeated, 4-1. Fairfield's Lauryn Rhinehart limited Columbia's potent offense to just a run on four hits. The Lions scored in the first inning when sophomore Maria Pagane led off the game with a triple and came around to score on an RBI groundout from Max Ortega. Madison Canby started in the circle and pitched all six innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits and three walks, striking out three.

Last weekend, the Lions outscored Cornell 32-4 to earn three mercy-rule victories and maintain its positioning in the Ivy League title race. Columbia battered the Big Red pitching for 29 hits while putting 23 more on base via the walk. First-year Sommer Grzybek homered twice and drove in nine runs while Max Ortega drove in eight and first-year Abby Stuart drove in five. Grzybek and Stuart went on to be named Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Week. Pitchers Madison Canby and Alexa Pinarski each threw a shutout and combined for a 1.24 ERA through the series. Canby did not allow an earned run over 7.2 innings.

🧹🧹🧹

LIONS WIN! A weekend sweep as Jordan Townsend drives in the 8th run of the game to end it in six. #RoarLionRoar #Team20 🦁🥎 pic.twitter.com/nfEi7J5t3y
— Columbia Softball (@CULionsSoftball) April 14, 2019

IVY LEAGUE LEADERS
Columbia enters the week tied atop the Ivy League standings with Harvard. The 9-3 start is Columbia's best in league play in program history and marks just the second time they've won at least nine Ivy games in a season (13-8, 2018). Princeton sits a game behind the Lions and Crimson at 8-4. Columbia holds the tiebreak over the Tigers should they wind up tied in the standings. Harvard holds the tiebreak over the Lions.

IVY LEAGUE STANDINGS

Rk.	Team	Ivy League	Games Back
1.	Columbia	9-3	--
	Harvard	9-3	--
3.	Princeton	8-4	1.0
4.	Penn	9-6	1.5
5.	Yale	8-7	2.5
6.	Brown	3-9	6.0
7.	Dartmouth	3-9	6.0
8.	Cornell	2-10	7.0

PLAYER / ROOKIE OF THE WEEK SWEEP
Junior Sommer Grzybek and first-year Abby Stuart took home Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Week honors, respectively, on Monday. Grzybek hit .462 over four games, including a .600 batting average, .667 on-base percentage and 1.200 slugging percentage in a three-game series sweep over Cornell. The slugger homered twice against Big Red and racked up nine RBIs, launching a three-run shot in the series opener and adding a two-run blast in Sunday's finale. Stuart, a first baseman, hit .500 on the week, going 6-for-12 with a triple, a home run, five runs scored and five RBIs. She slugged .917 with a .571 OBP, blasting her fifth long ball of her rookie campaign as part of a 2-for-4, 3-RBI performance in game two of the Cornell series.

🏅 Sommer Grzybek is the @IvyLeague Player of the Week!

🏅 Abby Stuart is the @IvyLeague Rookie of the Week!

Congratulations ladies!#RoarLionRoar #Team20 🦁🥎 pic.twitter.com/EjiICYQ1DC
— Columbia Softball (@CULionsSoftball) April 15, 2019

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
April 15: Sommer Grzybek – Player of the Week
April 15: Abby Stuart – Rookie 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 Soltez
April 15: Madison Canby

COLUMBIA BULLETS
- Columbia either leads or shares the Ivy League lead in home runs (21), runs scored (156) and RBIs (142). The Lions rank No. 2 in the Ancient Eight in batting average (.282), slugging (.427) and on-base percentage (.367).

- Sommer Grzybek is one home run away from 24 in her career, which would tie her with Taylor Troutt '18CC for second all-time. Grzybek has eight home runs on the season, which leads the Ivy League, and is two shy of tying the program's single-season record. She is also No. 2 in the Ivy League in slugging (.754) and No. 3 in RBIs (24).

- Sophomore third baseman Max Ortega leads the Ivy League in doubles (10), runs (24) and RBIs (30), while also ranking No.2 in hits (41) and No. 4 in batting average (.402).

- First-year Abby Stuart ranks among the top five in the Ivy league in RBIs (23) and home runs (5), while also ranking top 10 in slugging (.584). She is slugging a team-high .765 against Ivy League competition.

- Columbia boasts three of the Ivy League's top four players in RBIs (Ortega, Grzybek, Stuart).

- Maria Pagane is hitting a team-best .442 in Ivy League play with 13 runs and 10 RBIs.

- First-year pitcher Alexa Pinarski (10-6) shares the Ivy League lead in wins and has thrown six complete games this season, tied for second-most in the league. She tossed her first shutout Sunday against Cornell.

- Junior pitcher Madison Canby (6-7) leads the Ivy League in complete games (8) and leads the Columbia pitching staff with a 3.38 ERA, 46 strikeouts and 87.0 innings pitched. She blanked Cornell last Saturday and has two shutouts on the season. Canby also has 29 career wins and is one shy of becoming the fourth pitcher in program history to earn 30.

SCOUTING YALE
Yale lost two of three at Brown last weekend to fall into fifth place, 2.5 games back of both Columbia and Harvard in the Ivy League standings. The Bulldogs have lost four of their last six Ivy League games overall, dropping a home series against Dartmouth (April 6-7). Sydney Grobman leads the team with a .389 batting average, collecting an Ivy League-best 42 hits on the season to go with team-highs of eight doubles, four homers and 25 RBIs. Shelby Kennedy shares the league-lead in runs scored with Max Ortega (24). Meanwhile, the pitching staff is led by Terra Jerpbak, who is 7-7 on the season with a 2.84 ERA in 91.1 innings pitched. She has made a team-high 12 starts and 22 appearances, striking out an Ivy League-best 76 batters. Miranda Papes (3-4, 5.21 ERA) and Nic Conway (4-6, 2.90 ERA) have combined to start 20 games.

THE SERIES
Yale leads the all-time series, 21-17, but Columbia has held a significant advantage in recent years, defeating the Bulldogs in nine of the last 13 contests since 2013. Last season, the Lions took two of three in New York.