This weekend, the softball team (17-10, 5-4 Ivy) edged past Cornell (12-11, 4-5) in a 2-1 series win at home. After falling 1-0 in the first game, the Bears rallied, winning the next two games 6-1 and 3-2 to close out the series.
Laurel Moody ’25 was the star of the show with three home runs across the weekend, including the game winner in Saturday’s 3-2 victory.
“The team really showed up on a mission this weekend and was absolutely ready to compete,” Head Coach Mary Holt-Kelsch wrote in a message to The Herald. “We played (lockdown) defense and had stellar pitching performances in all (three) games.”
Friday’s doubleheader kicked off in Cornell’s favor. After a scoreless first inning, Cornell tallied the first and only run of the game in the second, when the Big Red’s Hailey Pirkey hit a clean double to right field that pushed a runner through home. Though pitcher Alexis Guevara ’25 tallied seven strikeouts and kept Cornell from scoring for the remainder of the match-up, it wasn’t enough, and Brown lost 1-0.
Still reeling from the loss, the Bears were brought down 1-0 early in the second game of the day, which started only minutes after the first one ended.
But after the early scare, Bruno fought back.
During the Bears’ first time at the plate, Moody sent a hit to the left foul pole, marking her ninth home run of the season. Both Moody and Lily Berlinger ’26, who was on first base when Moody stepped into the batter’s box, crossed home to make the score 2-1.
In the third inning, Abby Bettencourt ’28 hammered a beautiful ball past left centerfield. As the Cornell outfielders scrambled, baserunners Berlinger and Jasmine Hsiao ’26 flew home to push the Bruno advantage to 4-1.
The team knows that “we just have to keep moving forward and work hard to put ourselves in the best position to win,” Holt-Kelsch wrote.
By the time star hitter Moody came to bat in the fifth inning, the Bears were on a roll. With no runners on base, she hit a bomb over the heads of all the Big Red players, who could do nothing but watch as the ball sailed over the back fence for Moody’s second homer of the day.
“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking much — just ‘have fun’ and ‘see-ball, hit-ball,’” Moody wrote about her clutch home runs.
The Bears clinched their 6-1 victory with a score by Maggie Foxx ’28 in the sixth inning. Now tied at 1-1 in the series, Saturday morning’s matchup was for all of the marbles, and both teams came to play.
Though Cornell earned its first point in the third inning, it took the Bears until the fifth to cross home plate. After a clean double, first-year phenom Amanda Deng ’28 — who was awarded Ivy League Rookie of the Week last week — landed on second. Foxx hit a line drive past first, allowing Deng to tie the game 1-1. Right after, Guevara batted Foxx through home to make it 2-1.
As the sixth inning began in dramatic fashion, the two teams continued to battle. With a runner on second, the Big Red slotted a clean hit off of Guevara into the back left corner, pushing the runner around the bases and tying the game 2-2.
But right when Cornell posed the most danger, Moody took over. With the game tied and no runners on base, Moody hit a rocket over the outfield fence for the game-winning home run and her 11th of the season. With the hit, she now ranks second in Brown history for home runs scored in a single season.
While Guevara continued to be a force on the mound, the Bruno defense held the Big Red scoreless in the seventh inning to finish the game with the clutch 3-2 win. With the win, Guevara reached 339 career strikeouts, marking the second-most for a pitcher in Brown history. She was also named Ivy League Pitcher of the Week on Monday.
“This win was huge. We will keep our competitive spirit going throughout the week and challenge each other to be better every day,” Guevara wrote. “We’re excited to get back on the field and keep taking more W’s!”
After the 2-1 series win, Bruno moved into fourth place in the Ivy standings and are preparing for their next matchups against the University of Rhode Island and Columbia this week.
“Moving forward, we just have to remember to be where our feet are, stay humble and do what we do best, get back to work and prepare,” Holt-Kelsch said. “Our work and preparation is what we control to fuel our competitive fire heading into game day.”
