Lawson Takes No Hitter Into Seventh, Blanks Yale in Series Finale

Sunday, April 12

New York, N.Y.

12:30 PM

Columbia

15-17, 7-5

Yale

12-25, 4-11

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Yale	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Columbia	0	0	2	0	1	0	X	3	6	1

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Alicia Yu

Lawson Takes No Hitter Into Seventh, Blanks Yale in Series Finale

4/12/2026 3:14:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Columbia takes the series; Messner, Mason go yard

NEW YORK – First-year starting pitcher Mads Lawson (9-6) took a perfect game into the fifth inning and had a no-hitter entering the seventh. She finished the day tossing a one-hit complete game shutout, her third consecutive complete game shutout, as Columbia defeated Yale 3-0 on Sunday to clinch the series.

Lawson becomes the first pitcher in program history to throw three consecutive complete-game shutouts. She has not allowed a run to score on 20.2 innings, dating back to a one-out RBI double in the seventh inning against Dartmouth on April 3. The next day, she blanked the Big Green over six innings to start her streak of complete-game shutouts.

For the weekend, Lawson tossed 14.0 scoreless innings, scattering four hits, with one walk and 14 strikeouts. She now has 99 strikeouts on the season, which is tied for the ninth most in a single season in Columbia history. She is tied with former Lion Prophet Gaspard, who struck out 99 in 2011.

Today, she retired the first 13 batters she faced, perfect through 4.1 before she hit Isabella Fortini, giving Yale (12-25, 4-11 Ivy League) its first base runner.

She got out of the jam and took the no-hit bid into the seventh when the Bulldogs' leadoff hitter, Ella Cross, led off the frame with a single through the right side. Lawson kept the shutout intact, getting Fortini to strike out looking for the second out, and ended the game on a weak ground ball back to the pitcher.

In the field, the Lions had several outstanding plays in defense of their pitcher. Messner robbed a double in the gap in left center in the top of the fourth. Payton Shimansky was stellar on the hot corner, and Alicia Marzouca and Juju O'Brien made some great defensive plays up the middle.

Columbia (15-17, 7-5 Ivy) got all the offense it needed in the bottom of the third when it broke through with back-to-back solo home runs from Savanna Messner and Kyra Mason.

Messner led off the inning with a towering home run the opposite way. It was her seventh of the year and 19th of her career. The 19 home runs tie her with former Lion Cami Neal (2022-25) for fourth all-time in program history.

Mason followed suit, jumping all over a 3-2 offering down the right field line for her third home run of the year. The Lions added a run in the fifth when Sarah Mikami singled down the right field line that drove in Eleni Katsivalis from second.

Taking the loss was starter Emma Taylor (5-10). Taylor went 2.0+, allowing three hits, two earned, with no walks or strikeouts.

Columbia returns to the road next weekend, when they travel to Ithaca, N.Y., for a three-game series at Cornell. The series begins with a doubleheader on Saturday, with game one scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. first pitch.

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