SOFTBALL | Six-game weekend ahead for softball team

The softball team has lost three games in a row, but all three have been by a margin of two or fewer runs.
The softball team has lost three games in a row, but all three have been by a margin of two or fewer runs. Photo by Zoe Gorman.
By
Contributing Reporter
Thursday, April 7, 2011

This weekend will be action packed for the members of the softball team.

The Bulldogs (7–15, 1–3 Ivy) will host three doubleheaders in three days at Dewitt Family Field. Yale will start off the weekend with a twinbill against Penn (10–12–1, 2–2) on Friday and a pair of games against Columbia (8–19, 0–4) on Saturday. The Elis close out the weekend with a non-conference doubleheader against Rhode Island (3–27) on Sunday.

Yale is coming off two tough losses to Providence on Wednesday. The Friars defeated the Bulldogs in both games on walk-off hits — one a grand slam, and the other a single. Still, the Elis will look to rebound from the two defeats this weekend.

“You take something to learn from the games and you forget everything else,” captain and catcher McKynlee Westman ’11 said on Wednesday. “You remember the good things, and you take the confidence into the next game. We won’t be carrying [the losses] with us at all.”

Yale will first face Ancient Eight rival Penn on Friday. The Quakers last played on Wednesday in a non-conference doubleheader against Villanova, where they lost the opener, 7–5, but came out with a 2–2 tie in the nightcap. In the opening weekend of Ivy League play last week, Penn was swept by Harvard but rebounded by defeating Dartmouth twice the next day.

Penn is currently batting .285 as a team, ranking third in the Ivy League, and has a 5.58 ERA.

The Quakers took both of the games in the doubleheader against the Bulldogs last season, winning 5–4 in the opener and 2–0 in the nightcap.

The Elis continue league play on Saturday with a twinbill against Columbia. The Lions are still looking for their first Ivy win after dropping their first two league doubleheaders against Dartmouth and Harvard last weekend.

Columbia boasts the second-best pitching staff in the league and currently has a 2.46 ERA. Though the Lions have been strong in the circle, they have struggled at the plate, as their .248 batting average is last in the league.

The Bulldogs swept the doubleheader at Columbia last season, defeating the Lions 6–0 in the opener and 8–7 in the second game.

On Sunday, the Elis will face Rhode Island for the first time since 2004. The Rams have struggled this season and are currently on a five-game losing streak after falling to Connecticut on Thursday, 11–7. Rhode Island is batting just .210 at the plate with a 7.37 ERA.

First pitch against Penn is slated for 2 p.m. The games against Columbia and Rhode Island are scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. and 12 p.m., respectively.

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