The softball team continued its disappointing Ivy season Monday with two losses at the hands of Cornell (24-21, 9-3 Ivy). The Elis (27-19, 2-8) lost the first game of the doubleheader, 5-3, before being blanked in the nightcap, 4-0.

The Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead thanks to Cornell starter Jenn Meunier’s early control issues. Both of Yale’s first two batters, right fielder Kyli Hanson ’09 and second baseman Christina Guerland ’07, were hit by pitches, and each came home on a different wild pitch later in the inning.

Yale starter Peggy Hunt ’06 settled down after allowing two runs in the first two innings to retire 15 batters in a row, and took a 3-2 lead into the seventh inning. But Hunt allowed a leadoff single and an RBI double before Lauren Battaglia came on to deal the death blow, a two-run pinch-hit homer.

The Bulldogs had men on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but shortstop Aracelis Torres ’08 grounded out to first to end the game.

Meunier’s control issues — two walks, two wild pitches and three hit batsmen — could not save the Elis from their own offense, which produced only three hits. The story would be the same in the second game of the doubleheader, except Big Red pitcher Haley Mirrer would not be as generous as Meunier. Mirrer held the Bulldogs scoreless through seven innings, allowing only four hits and two walks.

Four runs would prove more than enough to back up the rookie hurler, and it all came in the first two innings. Jenna Campagnolo stole home to put the Big Red on the board in the first, and three consecutive RBI singles with two outs in the second made the score 4-0. Yale starter Ashley Linnenbank ’06 left after giving up her fourth run and Rebecca Wojciak ’09 pitched five and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief, but the Elis never mounted a comeback.

The Bulldogs host Columbia Friday and travel to Brown Saturday to wrap up the 2006 season.

­– Yale Daily News