Softball Closes Out 2023 Home Slate Against Cornell

Saturday, April 22

New York, N.Y.

12:30 PM

Columbia University

Cornell

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

Softball Closes Out 2023 Home Slate Against Cornell

4/21/2023 1:38:00 PM | Softball

Saturday Game 1 - ESPN+Saturday Game 2 - ESPN+Sunday Game - ESPN+Live Stats

Softball will celebrate senior day before Sunday's game

By: Garret Sulak

NEW YORK – Softball will host its final home series of the season this weekend against Cornell at the Columbia Softball Stadium.

The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday starting at 12:30 p.m. before capping off the series with a 12:30 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.

Columbia enters the weekend with a 13-19 overall record and 8-7 mark in Ivy League play after taking two of three against Penn last weekend. The Lions are currently third in the conference standings behind Harvard and Princeton. Cornell sits in seventh with a 4-8 Ivy League mark.

GAME COVERAGE

All three games this weekend will be streamed on ESPN+. Fans can follow Live Stats and social media updates throughout the games.

SENIOR DAY

Senior day will be celebrated before the start of Sunday's game at approximately 12:05 p.m. Bubba Gleaves, Kat LoVerde, Dani Mandichak, and Megan Ryono will be recognized as they play their final home game.

LAST TIME OUT

The Lions took the first game of the series and bounced back to win the rubber match and take two of three from Penn last weekend at home.

Maddy Rifenberick used an RBI base hit to secure Columbia's 1-0 walk-off win in the bottom of the eighth inning in the first game of the series last Friday. The Quakers responded with a 7-0 win in game two to force rubber match on Saturday. Columbia capitalized on seven hits and two home runs in the rubber match to take a 5-4 win to clinch the series win against Penn.

TEAM LEADERS

Cami Neal leads the team at the plate with a .313 batting average as she has started all 32 games this season. She has 30 total hits with nine doubles, a triple, two home runs, and 17 RBI. Jaden Hill leads the team in hits with 31. She is batting .290 as she has posted 10 doubles, 10 RBI, and three homers for the season.

Megan Ryono leads the team in stolen bases with 10 so far this season. She is batting .287 with 29 total hits, nine doubles, nine RBI, and two home runs. Fellow senior Bubba Gleaves is batting .300 for the season with 27 total hits, seven doubles, 14 RBI, and a homer.

Right-handers Raquel Reyes and Jordan Hill have led the Columbia pitching effort this season. Jordan Hill (5-10) has a 4.86 ERA entering the weekend as she has tossed 98.0 total innings, totaling 53 strikeouts. Reyes (6-6) enters the weekend with a 5.25 ERA through 80.0 total innings. She has tossed three complete games this season, including an eight-inning complete performance in the game one win over Penn last weekend. Reyes has 30 strikeouts for the season.

THE OPPONENT

Cornell is 11-20 overall this season and 4-8 in the Ivy League. The Big Red lost the series to Princeton last weekend, but were able to salvage a win in the second game on Saturday.

Celia Macari leads the team at the plate with a .319 batting average and 29 total hits. She has 10 doubles, 14 RBI, and five home runs for the season. Sydney Stapf is batting .276 with 27 hits, nine doubles, two triples, 23 RBI, and four homers. Lauren Holt leads the team in home runs with seven this year. She is batting .259 for the season with 21 hits.

Gabrielle Maday and Mia Burd have pitched the most for Cornell this season as Maday has tossed 57.2 innings compared to Burd's 57.0 innings of work. Maday has a 4.25 ERA entering the weekend with 37 strikeouts. Burd has a 4.42 ERA and has totaled 33 strikeouts.

FOLLOWING THE LIONS

Stay up to date on all things Columbia Softball by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsSoftball), Instagram (@culionssoftball) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaSoftball).