Since 2015, softball’s history with Yale has not been pretty. Eight consecutive series losses. A 2-9 record away from Niemand-Robison Field. Failing to score six or more runs in 15 of the 22 matchups between the teams.
This year’s team is different.
Senior catcher Lauren Holt is charging up the program home runs and total bases leaderboards. Sophomore infielder Emma Harshberger is heating up at the plate. And the Red’s pitching — which has finished in the bottom half of the Ivy League for three consecutive seasons — finally looks competitive.
It’s still in its infancy, but the head coach Tara Tembey era feels different.
In its first weekend of conference play, Cornell (7-8, 2-1 Ivy) finally flipped the script on the Bulldogs (7-12, 1-2 Ivy). After dropping game one 14-4, the Red’s offense came alive in 13-9 and 13-1 victories. The weekend represents just the second time Cornell has started its Ivy League campaign with a series win since the pandemic.
The biggest moment of the weekend came Saturday afternoon in the late innings of game two. After scoring four runs in the top of the fifth to take a 13-1 lead, all the Red needed was three outs for a run-rule win. Instead, Cornell’s pitching began to unravel.
In her first four innings of work, senior pitcher Madalyn Covelli was excellent, using a trio of strikeouts and a timely doubleplay to strand five Bulldogs on the basepaths and allow only a single run.
However, her fifth inning did not go according to plan. After allowing a pair of base runners, the Buffalo native traded a pair of groundouts for a run, bringing the score to 13-2 with a runner still on third. An RBI single and a walk set the table for the Bulldogs six-hitter, who walloped a hanging breaking ball into deep left field for a two-run triple.
Having escaped the possibility of the run rule coming into effect and having chased Covelli, Yale tagged the Red’s reliever — sophomore pitcher Mila Fiordalisi — for a second triple of the inning, bringing the score to 13-6. After two quick outs in the bottom of the sixth, a five pitch walk and a towering drive to center field brought Yale within five.
In the bottom of the seventh — after another Bulldog triple led off the frame — a Yale baserunning error helped Fiordalisi retire the side and secure Cornell’s first Ivy League victory of the season.
Covelli earned her fourth win of the season, a new career high. Holt had an excellent Saturday at the plate, mashing her fifth and sixth home runs of 2026 as part of a 4-for-6, six-run day. Harshberger also seemed confident swinging the bat, tripling in game one and doubling in game two as part of a five RBI day.
Holt, Harshberger and the rest of Cornell’s offense remained scorching hot in Sunday’s rubber match. Harshberger opened the scoring with a three run home run in the top of the first, and the Red took advantage of a trio of Bulldog errors in a seven-run second inning rally capped off by a junior outfielder Hailey Pirkey two-run home run. The blast was Pirkey’s first of the season.
In the circle, Covelli earned a second start and was nearly flawless, allowing one run on six hits in a 91 pitch five-inning complete game.
Holt — who reached base 10 times over the course of the weekend — earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors, and was placed on the conference’s honor roll alongside Covelli and freshman third baseman Sofia Hernandez.
Up Next
The Red were set to take on Bucknell at home on Wednesday, but a weather-related postponement means Cornell will have to wait until this weekend to take the field again. When it does, the Red will be faced with arguably its biggest challenge of the season: Princeton.
Entering the season looking for a fifth straight conference title, the Tigers are another team which has dominated the Red in recent seasons. Cornell enters this weekend on a five-game losing streak against Princeton, with the 2026 preseason favorite having taken every series from Cornell dating back to 2019.
The Red will likely face Brielle Wright — the 2025 Ivy League Pitcher of the Year — and Cassidy Shaw, who finished last season with a combined record of 25-14. In 2025, Wright pitched 11 1/3 shutout innings against Cornell, while Shaw picked up a complete-game win in game two of the Tiger’s sweep.
Cornell and Princeton will face off in a three-game series set to begin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in Princeton, New Jersey, with all three games streamed live on ESPN+.
Eli Fastiff is a senior editor on the 143rd editorial board and a member of the class of 2026 in the College of Arts and Sciences. You can follow him on X @Eli_Fastiff and reach him at efastiff@cornellsun.com.
