ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell softball team begins Ivy League play hoping to snap its nine-game losing streak when it faces the University of Pennsylvania in a doubleheader on Friday, March 22, starting at 3 p.m. at Penn Park. The series concludes with a single game at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. 

Cornell (2-12) has not won since it beat St. Bonaventure 8-3 at the Spring Games in Madeira Beach, Fla., on Feb. 25. The Quakers (5-11) come into the series on a two-game skid, as they lost to Marist twice on Wednesday. 

Cornell, 46-36 overall against Penn, swept the Quakers last year in Ithaca. The Big Red allowed just five runs over those three wins. Junior Emma Antich and sophomores Sydney Stapf and Lauren Holt each homered in the series, and Stapf's solo shot broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning of the first game. 

Antich enters Cornell's Ivy openers off an impressive weekend in which she drove in four runs and went 6-11 (.545 avg) at the plate with two doubles and two homers at the Penn State Tournament. Defensively, Antich, who plays second base, has 25 putouts and 19 assists with just one error. She's helped turn two double plays. 

Holt has been one of the most dangerous hitters in the country to start the season. She's batting .372 with four doubles, four home runs and 21 RBI. Entering last weekend, she was first nationally in RBI per game (2.33), third in slugging percentage, seventh in home runs and 18th in on-base percentage (.562). She's currently tied for fourth in RBI per game (1.50).

All three of Cornell's games at Penn will be streamed live on ESPN+.