NEW YORK – Home runs were flying Sunday afternoon at the Columbia Softball Stadium as the Lions rolled to a 9-0 five inning run-rule victory over Cornell to finish off the weekend sweep.
Columbia improves to 16-19 overall for the season as the Lions have won six of their last seven games. Columbia sits at 11-7 in Ivy League action as they look to lock in a trip to the Ivy League Tournament in May. The Lions currently sit in third place behind Princeton and Harvard. The top four finishers will compete at the tournament.
"What a great team series win," Columbia Softball Head Coach
Jennifer Teague said. "Obviously it is always great to sweep a team, but I am super happy with our play as a whole. I think we are starting to play our best softball right now and that is exciting."
It was senior day at the ballpark Sunday afternoon, but the team's young talent highlighted the dominating win over Cornell. First-year
Georgia Corey belted two home runs to account for four of Columbia's runs. Sophomore
Cami Neal also hit a two-run homer as the Lions scored six runs off of home runs.
The Lions got to work quick with a four-spot in the bottom of the first inning. Cornell's starter lasted only one out before she was pulled.
Junior
Jaden Hill got the action started with a one-out base hit through the right side. She then stole second and senior
Bubba Gleaves was walked to put two Lions on. Neal came to the plate next and singled to left field, allowing Hill to score and Gleaves to move to second. Corey stepped up next and drove a three-run homer over the right field wall to give the Lions a 4-0 lead early.
Columbia struck again in the third inning for three runs. Gleaves reached on a leadoff double ro left center. Neal followed with a two-run shot to extend Columbia's lead to 6-0. Corey came to the plate next and belted a solo shot over the center field wall to make it back-to-back homers for the Lions as Columbia took a 7-0 advantage.
With the two home runs today, Corey is now the outright team leader in the category as she has launched six of the team's 24 homers this season.
Looking to close out a run-rule win, Columbia added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, senior
Dani Mandichak was walked to bring a run in. Sophomore
Caroline Palys then hit a sac fly that scored Neal to give the Lions the 9-0 lead that they would hold on to.
Junior right-hander
Raquel Reyes (8-6) had another incredible performance in the circle as she tossed her second complete game of the weekend. Reyes allowed just two hits in 5.0 innings of work as she struck out one.
UP NEXT
The Lions wrap up the regular season with a series at Harvard next weekend. The teams will play a Saturday doubleheader starting at 12:30 p.m. before wrapping up the series with a 12:30 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
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).
