The softball team kicks off Ivy League play on the road this weekend with doubleheaders against Cornell and Princeton.

Yale (6–10) will look to break its eight-game losing streak when it faces the Big Red (11–11–1) on Saturday and the Tigers (8–12) on Sunday.

The Bulldogs are coming off a mid-week doubleheader loss to Fairfield on Wednesday. Though the Elis were defeated 8–5 in the opener and 11–3 in the nightcap, their bats came alive in the two games to finish with a combined 19 hits. It was a marked improvement from Yale’s previous six games in which the Bulldogs batted just .201 as a team. The Elis have a combined .274 batting average and a 3.87 ERA going into the weekend.

“The defense and the offense are going to come together for Ivy [League play], so I think we’re ready,” captain and catcher McKynlee Westman ’11 said on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs’ weekend begins on Saturday when they travel to Ithaca, N.Y., for a pair of games against the Big Red. Cornell has momentum going into the matchup after sweeping doubleheaders against Mount St. Mary’s and Bucknell at the Mount St. Mary’s Invite last weekend.

The Big Red are currently hitting .265 as a team with a 2.64 ERA. Cornell has three batters who are batting over .300 in its lineup. Marissa Amiraian leads the team with a .383 average and is followed by Kristen Towne (.368) and Erin Belles (.333).

Pitcher Elizabeth Dalrymple has been strong for the Big Red in the circle this season and is 6–3 with a 0.83 ERA and a .177 opposing batting average.

Cornell swept the doubleheader against the Bulldogs last year at Dewitt Family Field. In the first game, Dalrymple threw a three-hit shutout against the Elis en route to a 3–0 win. The Big Red also took the nightcap, 7–3.

On Sunday, Yale will travel to New Jersey to take on Princeton in another doubleheader. The Tigers recently dropped a twinbill against Central Connecticut on Wednesday, falling 5–4 in eight innings and 19–4 in five.

Princeton is batting .257 as a team with a 5.11 ERA. Lizzy Pierce has been the Tigers’ greatest offensive threat so far this season and currently has a team-best .356 batting average. Sarah Rounsifer and Kelsey VandeBergh have also had solid starts to the season and are hitting .355 and .320, respectively.

The Elis swept the Tigers in last year’s doubleheader for the first time in Yale history. The Bulldogs scored a combined 19 runs to lift them over Princeton, 11–2 and 8–6. Third baseman Christy Nelson ’13 went four-for-six with four RBIs in the two games.

Yale will face off against Cornell on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. Sunday’s doubleheader against Princeton is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m.