Softball Weekly Release - Week 7

(l-r): Cornell's Linda Laeufer, Princeton's Liza Kuhn and Harvard's Kasey Lange.

Stats/Leaders (PDF)

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The final set of cross division games took place over the weekend and by each posting 4-0 marks in such play, Harvard and Cornell came away as the big winners, while Princeton also had a solid Ivy showing with a 3-1 mark.

With the four wins, Harvard took control of the North Division and will enter Divisional play with a 7-1 record. Brown is second in the North with a 3-5 mark. Cornell’s four wins over the weekend helped it take possession of first-place in the South division, also with a 7-1 mark. Princeton’s three wins helped the Tigers stay within two games of the Big Red at 5-3. Also at 5-3, Penn is tied for second in the south with Princeton.

Beginning this Saturday, the teams will play each of their divisional foes in four-game series over the next three weekends as they try to claim one of the two berths in the Ivy League Championship Series by winning either the North or South Division.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Harvard sophomore Kasey Lange (Ladera Ranch, Calif.) helped Harvard to a weekend sweep of Columbia and Penn to grab the outright lead in the Ivy North standings at 7-1 on the year. Lange extended her current hitting streak to nine games with hits in five games last week, as the Crimson also dropped a one run game at Providence in which Lange launched a homer. She went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI against Columbia in Game 1 and she finished the weekend with a 2-for-2 showing against Penn.

Lange played error-free third base, recording six putouts and three assists. She batted .615 for the week, while slugging .923 and adding three RBI and five runs. Lange has now earned Ivy Player of the Week honors twice this season (March 6) and four times in her career (April 19 and May 3 of 2011).

Lange's Weekly Stats
5GP, 13 AB, 5 R, 8 H, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 SB, .615 Avg., .688 OBP, .923 Slg.%

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Princeton junior Liza Kuhn (Middletown, N.J.) helped lead the Tigers back into the South Division title race last week as she posted a 2-1 record and a 1.70 ERA in three starts. She went the distance in all three starts, including an extra innings affair at Brown on April 7 that the Bears ultimately won in the 11th inning, 2-1.

Kuhn opened her week with a complete game shutout of Seton Hall. Then against Yale she posted a career-high 13 strikeouts en route to the win (her second 10+ K game of her season/career - Colorado Sate 3/17). For the week, Kuhn had 28 strikeouts. Kuhn becomes the first Tiger to earn Ivy League Pitcher of the Week honors since Alex Peyton did so on April 12, 2011.

Kuhn's Weekly Stats
1.70 ERA, 2-1, 3 App., 3 GS, 3 CG, 24.2 IP, 17 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 11 BB, 28 K

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Cornell freshman outfielder Linda Laeufer (Pickerington, Ohio) hit .435 with five doubles, a home run, five RBI and six runs scored in helping the Big Red to a 4-2 week, including doubleheader road sweeps of Ivy foes Brown and Yale. In the four Ivy contests, Laeufer hit .563 (9-for-16) with a home run and all five doubles, including three multi-hit games. She slammed a solo home run in the seventh as part of a five-run, seventh-inning rally in an 8-6 win at Yale, then went 4-for-5 with a double and three RBI in the nightcap. The day before, she was 3-for-7 with three doubles in a sweep of Brown.

Laeufer also walked three times during the week to post a .500 on-base percentage along with her hefty .783 slugging percentage. Laeufer was perfect in four fielding chances in the outfield and is the first Big Red player to earn a Weekly Ivy League award this season.

Laeufer's Weekly Stats
6GP, 23 AB, 6 R, 10 H, 5 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, .435 Avg., .500 OBP, .783 Slg.%

HONOR ROLL
Alix Cook, Columbia (Fr., 2B - El Segundo, Calif.)
6GP, 19 AB, 6 R, 8 H, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 2 SB, .421 Avg., .476 OBP, .421 Slg.%

Kayla Dahlerbruch, Penn (So., 3B - West Hills, Calif.)
4GP, 12 AB, 5 H, 3 RBI, .417 Avg., .417 OBP, .417 Slg.%

Brooke Darling, Columbia (Fr., P - Springville, Pa.)
2.76 ERA, 2-2, 4 App., 4 GS, 4 CG, 25.1 IP, 29 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 11 BB, 17 K

Meg Johnson, Yale (Sr., SS - New Milford, Conn.)
6GP, 19 AB, 5 R, 10 H, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, .526 Avg., .526 OBP, .579 Slg.%

Erin Keene, Cornell (Sr., 3B - New Milford, Pa.)
5GP, 14 AB, 6 R, 6 H, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 0 K, .429 Avg., .600 OBP, 1.071 Slg.%

Katherine Lantz, Harvard (Fr., INF - Parkland, Fla.)
4GP, 11 AB, 2 R, 5 H, 5 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB, .455 Avg., .455 OBP, .455 Slg.%

Tristin Moone, Columbia (So., P/DP - Waterflow, N.M.)
6GP, 20 AB, 2 R, 7 H, 2 HR, 7 RBI, .350 Avg., .350 OBP, .650 Slg.%
0.00 ERA, 2 App., 4.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 K

Alex Peyton, Princeton (Jr., P/1B - Fullerton, Calif.)
6GP, 21 AB, 2 R, 9 H, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, .429 Avg., .478 OBP, .571 Slg.%
3.71 ERA, 2-0, 3 App., 2 GS, 2 CG, 19 H, 11 R, 9 ER, 11 K

Noelle Ramirez, Dartmouth (Jr., 3B - Pompton Plains, N.J.)
4GP, 11 AB, 1 R, 6 H, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, .545 Avg., .583 OBP, .818 Slg.%

Laura Ricciardone, Harvard (So., P - Slidell, La.)
1.00 ERA, 2-1, 3 App., 2 GS, 2 CG, 14.0 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

Kristen Rumley, Dartmouth (Fr., P - Katy, Texas)
1.35 ERA, 2-2, 3 App., 3 GS, 1 CG, 10.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 15 K

Kate Strobel, Brown (Sr., 1B - Denver, Colo.)
4GP, 15 AB, 3 R, 7 H, 2 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 SB, .467 Avg., .556 OBP, .800 Slg.%

NOTES
NCAA Leaders
Brown junior infielder Stephanie Thompson leads the nation in batting average through games played on April 8 with an impressive .536 mark. Sam Fischer of Loyola Marymount is second with a .514 average and they are the only two players in Division I with averages above .500. Harvard senior Jane Alexander also broke into the top-10 with a .451, good for 10th in the nation. Thompson's slugging percentage of .884 is 12th in the nation and she ranks sixth in on base percentage with a .577 mark.

Thompson and Harvard sophomore outfielder Shelbi Olson are two of the toughest batters in the nation to strikeout. Thompson ranks second based on having struck out once in 69 at bats, while Olson ranks 11th with two strikeouts in 78 at bats.

Columbia sophomore infielder Emily Snodgrass ranks tied for 13th in the nation with a 0.34 doubles per game mark. Harvard senior pitcher Rachel Brown checks in ninth nationally with a 9.5 strikeouts per seven innings average, while she ranks seventh with a 4.07 hits per seven innings mark. Cornell senior Lauren Marx ranks tied for 12th in the nation with three saves on the year.

A New Home
Dartmouth Athletic Director Harry Sheehy along with head softball coach Rachel Hanson announced that the Dartmouth Softball Park, an on-campus facility, would play host to the team's home opener on Friday, April 6, which turned out to be a 1-0 win over Penn.

The $3.1 million project includes wrap around seating for 400 fans, sunken dugouts, bullpens, batting cages, press box, scoreboard and an artificial FieldTurf playing surface with superior drainage capacity. The team will use a locker room, training room and public restrooms that are already located within the Chase Field Complex. The new Dartmouth Softball Park will also have the capability to live stream all home softball games.

Ivy Title Talk
Dating back to 1980, the first season of Ivy League softball play, six Ivy teams have combined for 35 titles in the 32 seasons of play. Yale won the inaugural title in 1980, while Princeton leads the League with 17 titles. Cornell, Brown and Harvard each have five titles, followed by Yale (2) and Penn (1). In 2010, Cornell prevailed in Game 3 of the Championship Series over Harvard, 3-2, for its second title in as many seasons, before Harvard halted that streak by sweeping the Big Red in 2011.

The softball championship series, which pits the regular season champions of the North and South Divisions against each other, began in 2007. That season, Harvard defeated Penn in consecutive games to win the first Ivy League Championship Series. The Cimson have represented the North in four of the five League Championships series (all but 2009 when Dartmouth won the North Divison).

Ivy League Championship Series History
2007 -- Harvard (North) vs. Penn (South)
Game One: Harvard def. Penn, 4-0
Game Two: Harvard def. Penn, 4-2
Harvard wins series, 2-0 (Soldier Softball Field // Cambridge, Mass.)

2008 -- Harvard (North) vs. Princeton (South)
Game One: Princeton def. Harvard, 4-2
Game Two: Princeton def. Harvard, 5-1
Princeton wins series, 2-0 (Class of 1895 Field // Princeton, N.J.)

2009 -- Dartmouth (North) vs. Cornell (South)
Game One: Cornell def. Dartmouth, 4-0
Game Two: Dartmouth def. Cornell, 5-1
Game Three: Cornell def. Dartmouth, 6-1
Cornell wins series, 2-1 (at Niemand*Robison Field // Ithaca, N.Y.)

2010 -- Harvard (North) vs. Cornell (South)
Game One: Cornell def. Harvard, 3-1
Game Two: Harvard def. Cornell, 4-2
Game Three: Cornell def. Harvard, 3-2
Cornell wins series, 2-1 (at Niemand*Robison Field // Ithaca, N.Y.)

2011 -- Harvard (North) vs. Cornell (South)
Game One: Harvard def. Cornell, 5-0
Game Two: Harvard def. Cornell, 4-0
Harvard wins series, 2-0 (at Soldiers Field // Cambridge, Mass.)

The 17-Ivy Win Plateau
Since the Ivy schedule format change in 2007, a team has finished with 17 or more League wins five times and won its division on each of those five occasions. In 2008, Princeton set the record with an 18-2 mark en route to claiming the South Division title. In 2009, Cornell became the second team to crack the 17-Ivy win plateau with a 17-3 record to take the South Division. Then in 2010, both the North (Harvard) and South (Cornell) Division winners reached 17-wins. In 2011, Harvard tied for the most League wins all-time at 18-2 while becoming the fifth squad to win at least 17 Ivy games and win its division.

College Sports Madness Honorees
College Sports Madness names National Players of the Week for NCAA Division I softball and the website also selects Players of the Week for 30 conferences, including the Ivy League:
March 5 - Stephanie Thompson, Brown
March 12 - Rachel Brown, Harvard
March 19 - Kasey Lange, Harvard
March 26 - Georgia Guttadauro, Penn
April 2 - Alexis Borden, Penn
April 9 - Lauren Bucolo, Cornell 

2012 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
March 6 - Kasey Lange (Harvard)
March 13 - Alyssa Schmidt (Princeton)
March 20 - Jane Alexander (Harvard)
March 27 - Stephanie Thompson (Brown)
April 3 - Stephanie Thompson (Brown)
April 10 - Kasey Lange (Harvard)

2012 PITCHERS OF THE WEEK
March 6 - Rachel Brown (Harvard)
March 13 - Rachel Brown (Harvard)
March 20 - Rachel Brown (Harvard)
March 27 - Laura Ricciardone (Harvard)
April 3 - Alexis Borden (Penn)
April 10 - Liza Kuhn (Princeton)

2012 ROOKIES OF THE WEEK
March 6 - Liz Caggiano (Columbia)
March 13 - Alexis Borden (Penn)
March 20 - Alexis Borden (Penn)
March 27 - Kristen Rumley (Dartmouth)
April 3 - Brooke Darling (Columbia)
April 10 - Linda Laeufer (Cornell)

2012 HONOR ROLLS
March 6 - Meredith Brown (Princeton), Kara Curosh (Dartmouth) Jenny Edwards (Cornell), Alyson Onyon (Cornell), Kristen Rumley (Dartmouth), Stephanie Thompson (Brown), Sydney Turchin (Penn), Kelsey Vandebergh (Princeton).