SOFTBALL: Bulldogs open Ivy League play against Penn, Cornell
Yale’s women’s softball team began conference play over the spring recess, improving their record to 15–13 over spring break.
Courtesy of Brian C. Smith
Over the past two weeks, the Bulldogs opened up conference play against the University of Pennsylvania (2–20, 0–6 Ivy) and Cornell (9–8, 1–2 Ivy) after a successful home tournament, improving to 15–13 overall on the season.
Yale (15–13, 5–1 Ivy) hosted the Bulldog Invitational from March 7 to March 9, where they went against the University of Maine (6–20, 0–3 America East), Central Connecticut State (10–15, 5–1 NEC) and Sacred Heart (10–12, 1–2 MAAC). The Bulldogs triumphed against CCSU and Sacred Heart, but split games with the University of Maine.
The Bulldogs tackled Providence College (11–17, 6–3 Big East), Holy Cross (4–18, 0–3 Patriot League) and Boston University (19–10, 3–0 Patriot League) in a series of out-of-conference doubleheader games. They split with Providence, winning the first game 8–4 but falling short in the second, 3–7. Yale dominated against Holy Cross, winning both games by five or more runs, but ultimately fell against a strong Boston University team.
Going into Ivy League play with a 9–10 record, the Bulldogs opened against Penn, winning all three games during their matchup in New Haven. Yale started off strong and was able to hold off a comeback from the Quakers late in the first game, winning 12–10, before dominating in the second game of the doubleheader, winning 9–0. Despite Penn getting off to a quick start in the beginning of the third game and leading 7–1 by the top of the second inning, Yale came back late to take the win, 8–7.
The three games had outstanding performances on both the fielding and batting sides, with multiple players scoring more than one run, including Ella Gandolfo ’28, Isabella Fortini ’27, Sophie Woodridge ’25, Elena Ohe ’27 and Kaitlyn Oikle ’27. Gandolfo scored two runs in all three games. With the 9–0 win, Emma Taylor ’26 secured her fifth win of the season, having struck out six batters in over 5.1 innings.
The Bulldogs then split the doubleheader at Cornell before winning the third game. Although the Big Red had a whopping 21 runs by the bottom of the third in the second game, Yale fought back to score 10 runs in the next two innings. However, this was not enough to come back. Gandolfo once again scored two runs while Fortini had four runs batted in, leading the Bulldogs. Yale closed the series against Cornell with a hard-fought 8–7 win, with everyone contributing.
Yale will continue conference play this weekend at Princeton (8–12, 3–0 Ivy).