ITHACA, N.Y. —
Abby Stuart drove in six runs with two homers and
Jordan Hill tossed her second complete-game victory of the weekend, as the Columbia softball team ran away with a series victory over Cornell, 9-1, Saturday afternoon on a cold and wet day at Niemand-Robison Field
Columbia (6-15, 4-2 Ivy) earned its second consecutive series victory, both on the road, to begin the Ivy League season. The preseason favorites will play their first home series next weekend against Harvard. Cornell fell to 4-11 overall and 1-2 in its Ivy-opening weekend.
"It was nice to come back after a disappointing game two yesterday," head coach
Jennifer Teague said. "I saw some toughness today.
"The offense was locked in. I challenged them to make in-at-bat adjustments and I thought they did a good job this weekend as a whole doing that. Prior to this weekend, it was more at-bat to at-bat … We played to our strengths and capitalized. If we can attack hittable pitches, then it will always be a good offensive day for us."
Stuart was the offensive sparkplug, going 3-for-4 with her fourth and fifth home runs of the season and increasing her Ivy League-leading RBI total to 16.
Jaden Hill,
Bubba Gleaves and Stuart scored two runs apiece, all courtesy of Stuart's homers, while
Maddie Souza was 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Jordan Hill tossed her second gem of the weekend. After hurling a one-hit shutout in Friday's series opener, she went the distance again on Saturday, striking out five while allowing just one run. She worked around six hits and three walks, including an escape of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth to keep the Big Red off the scoreboard.
"I thought Jordan was fantastic this weekend," Teague went on to add. "She showed a lot of poise and was able to work through some stuff and some situations."
Columbia's offense struck immediately. After
Jaden Hill and
Bubba Gleaves reached base to set the table, Stuart roped her first home run of the day over the fence in left, putting the Lions on top, 3-0, before the Big Red even came to bat.
A couple of two-out RBI singles by
Kat LoVerde and
Lauren Apollaro increased the lead to 5-0 in the third.
Columbia's offense and
Abby Stuart weren't done yet. In the sixth, with two in scoring position and first base open, Cornell decided to pitch to Stuart and the senior made them pay. This time, she launched a 3-2 moon ball over the fence in center, putting the game and the series completely out of reach.
"She can hammer the ball," Teague praised of the senior from Southlake, Texas. "And it helps to have weapons hitting all around her. Our offense is really dangerous when we're locked in."
The Lions hit .314 across the three-game series, including Gleaves going 4-for-8 with a double, a homer and two RBI.
Maria Pagane and
Jaden Hill each went 4-fo-11 (.364), combining for three homers and nine RBI.
Cornell extended the inevitable with a solo shot in the bottom half of the sixth, but the Lions answered right back in the seventh, using a pair of fielding errors to make it an eight-run game again.
The Lions are home for their next four games, starting Wednesday when they welcome Manhattan to Inwood for a midweek single. First pitch from the Columbia Softball Stadium is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET.
For the latest on the Columbia softball program, follow @CULionsSoftball on
Twitter and
Instagram, on Facebook at
Facebook.com/CULionsSoftball. You can view all the latest with the Lions on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com/Softball.
