CU Softball Falls Hard to Cornell in Two Doubleheaders

Over the weekend, the Columbia softball team was swept in a dismal four-game series at Cornell.

In their first game on Saturday, the Lions allowed an early run in the bottom of the first inning. Cornell left fielder Samantha Hare sent a solo shot to left-center field to give the Big Red an early 1-0 lead.

Neither team scored in the next two innings, thanks to stellar pitching from Cornell’s starter Jenn Meunier and Columbia’s right hander Maggie Johnson.

The Lions’ offense broke out with a three-run, four-hit rally in the top of the fourth inning. Shortstop Keli Leong led off the inning with a single, followed by a base hit from first baseman Dani Pineda. After Ciji Rich reached base on a fielder’s choice, Johnson hit a one-out, three-run homer to put her team up 3-1, and she looked to be on the way to her 10th win of the year.

Meunier was able to escape any further damage in the top of the fifth, as Leong was tagged out at home plate while trying to score a run from second base on Rich’s single.

Johnson would not be nearly as fortunate.

The Light Blue suffered its worst inning of the year, a nightmarish fifth that saw the team surrender 10 runs on 12 hits in just two-thirds of an inning. Both Aimee Kemp and Erica Clauss were called on to stop the bleeding, but neither could record the final out. Kemp was able to record the second out of the inning after Johnson was touched for five runs in the first third of the inning. However, she gave up four more runs of her own, and Clauss eventually had to enter the game in relief. After Hare singled for her fourth RBI of the inning, the game was called with Lions losing 11-3.
Columbia also had a brief lead in second game of the series after rallying from a 1-0 deficit in the fifth inning. Pineda doubled to lead off the inning and Rich belted a two-run homer to take a 2-1 lead.

But the Big Red quickly responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Clauss was pulled with the score tied at two after allowing a solo home run to designated hitter Jessy Berkey. Deanna Minuto entered in relief, and she allowed three runs on four hits. Cornell held on to win 5-2.

Sunday’s games saw the Lions surrender a total of 31 runs, the most they have surrendered in back-to-back games this season. Cornell was fast out of the gate in the first game as Devon March homered to center field.

The Lions scored one in the first and one in the third, before breaking through with five runs in the fifth. But Johnson was shelled—the Big Red scored in every inning of the game. She gave up 19 hits—including four homers—and 15 runs in seven innings on the way to her 10th loss of the year.

The second game saw the Lions surrender 16 runs in their worst pitching performance of the year. Clauss allowed five runs—and recorded only one out—in the first inning. The Big Red scored two more runs before the inning was over, and the Lions trailed 7-0 when they came to bat in the second inning. Johnson reached base on an error by Cornell’s pitcher Ali Tomlinson in the second, and came around to score the team’s only run of the game on a Tulig ground out.

Minuto and Kemp combined to allow 15 hits, 11 runs, and 2 walks in 2 2/3 innings. Kemp could not record an out in the fourth inning—Johnson pitched a scoreless inning in relief, and the Lions went down 16-1.

The Lions are back in action Thursday, April 24 against Iona at 3 p.m.