NEW YORK — Riding the high of a midweek shutout victory, the Columbia softball team (9-20, 5-7 Ivy) will look to carry that momentum into Ivy League play for a Friday-Saturday series at Brown (11-19, 3-9 Ivy). The three-game set begins Friday at 4 p.m. ET from the Brown Softball Field. The two teams will contest the final two games on Saturday starting at 12:30 p.m.
GAME COVERAGE:
All three games will be streamed live on
ESPN+. Live stats will be provided by
BrownBears.com. This weekend's series schedule is listed below with accompanying links to ESPN+ and live stats for each game.
SERIES SCHEDULE
Friday:
Game 1 | 4:00 p.m. ET |
ESPN+ |
Live Stats
Saturday:
Game 2 | 12:30 p.m. ET |
ESPN+ |
Live Stats
Game 3 | 3:00 p.m. ET |
ESPN+ |
Live Stats
LAST TIME OUT
Jordan Hill became the first Lion in eight years to strike out 10 batters in a game, which powered the Lions to a, 3-0, midweek victory over visiting Monmouth. Hill, a first year, struck out the side in order in the fourth on her way to posting a three-hit shutout. Meanwhile, the Lions provided Hill three runs on three hits in the fourth, including RBI singles by
Bubba Gleaves and
Maddy Rifenberick.
IVY LEAGUE STANDINGS
Columbia enters the weekend tied for fifth in the Ivy League standings, two games ahead of this weekend's opponent, Brown. The top two teams at the end of the regular season will face off in the Ivy League Playoff Series for the right to earn the league's automatic bid to NCAA Regionals. Columbia is chasing its first Ivy title and first NCAA berth.
| Team |
Ivy League |
Pct. |
GB |
Overall |
Pct. |
Streak |
| Harvard |
9-3 |
.750 |
-- |
15-15 |
.500 |
W3 |
| Princeton |
8-4 |
.667 |
1.0 |
16-13-1 |
.550 |
T1 |
| Dartmouth |
6-3 |
.667 |
1.5 |
12-20 |
.375 |
W7 |
| Yale |
6-6 |
.500 |
3.0 |
8-17 |
.320 |
W1 |
| Columbia |
5-7 |
.417 |
4.0 |
9-20 |
.310 |
W1 |
| Penn |
5-7 |
.417 |
4.0 |
9-24 |
.273 |
L5 |
| Cornell |
3-6 |
.333 |
4.5 |
9-15 |
.375 |
W1 |
| Brown |
3-9 |
.250 |
6.0 |
11-19 |
.367 |
L4 |
OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Columbia's offense is led by
Abby Stuart, who is hitting .360 (32-89) so far this season with a 1.047 OPS. Stuart is second in the league in batting average, fourth in OPS, as well as top five in hits (32), home runs (7), RBI (18) and slugging percentage (.629). Sophomore
Jaden Hill (.279), junior
Bubba Gleaves (.278) and first year
Maddie Souza (.277) are all hitting north of .270. Gleaves' 18 walks lead the Ivy League.
IN THE CIRCLE
Coming off her second shutout of the season, first year
Jordan Hill (5-7) leads the pitching staff with a 3.23 ERA. Hill has tossed a team-high 78.0 innings and upped her strikeout total to 54 with her season-high 10 on Wednesday. Hill ranks among the top five in the Ivy League in strikeouts, wins and innings pitched. Sophomore
Raquel Reyes (2-4) and junior
Kaia McCaul (2-8) have combined to toss 103 1/3 innings. Their ERAs are nearly identical at 4.20 and 4.63, respectively.
IVY HONORS
Columbia has earned two of the Ivy League's softball Player of the Week honors so far this season. All of Columbia's Ivy accolades this season are listed below.
Player of the Week:
-
Abby Stuart (March 28)
Rookie of the Week:
-
Jordan Hill (March 21)
Honor Roll:
Feb. 28:
Bubba Gleaves,
Raquel Reyes
March 7:
Maddie Souza,
Maria Pagane
March 14:
Lauren Apollaro,
Jordan Hill
March 21:
Bubba Gleaves
March 28:
Jaden Hill,
Jordan Hill
April 4:
Maddie Souza,
Abby Stuart
THE OPPONENT
Brown (11-19, 3-9 Ivy) has lost four straight games, including a three-game series last weekend at Dartmouth. Despite the final outcomes, all of the games at Dartmouth were close, falling, 3-1, in the opener, 5-4, in extra innings in game two and, 9-7, in game three. The Bears traveled Boston College this past Tuesday and were tied, 1-1, before the Eagles scored three in the third on their way to a, 5-1, victory.
Brianna Rodriguez (.346), Katie O'Leary (.345) and Elayna Tsiouplis (.301) lead the offense. O'Leary leads the Bears in batting average, RBI (19), total bases (36), home runs (3), slugging (.621) and OBP (.493). Tsiouplis has driven in 10 and scored a dozen. Leah Carey has scored a team-high 17 runs and drawn a team-high 12 walks.
Brown's pitching staff has put up solid numbers this season, entering the weekend with a 3.03 team ERA. Six different Bears have tossed at least 15 innings this season. Alexa Guevara (4-5) has thrown a team-high 60 innings and carries a 2.45 ERA with 52 strikeouts. Erin Elgas (1-2) boasts the best ERA at 2.33, allowing 12 earned runs and striking out 13 in 36 innings pitched.
Columbia leads the all-time series, 24-14, and has won five of its last six against the Bears since 2018. The Lions swept Brown in their last visit to Providence, outscoring the Bears 20-5 over the course of three games. Columbia also closed out the 2019 season by taking two of three over the Bears in New York.
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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.
