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Subject: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
The Mountain Lion
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Date Posted: 19:49:06 05/08/26 Fri

Mads Lawson, Columbia's freshman pitching sensation, just turned in another extraordinary performance leading the Lions to a 2-1 victory in 15 innings over Brown in the Ivy League Softball Championship Tournament. Lawson, who has already rewritten practically every Ivy League pitching record has thrown an amazing 402 pitches in the Ivy League Championship Tournament which ends tomorrow with Columbia and Princeton playing at Princeton for the 2026 Ivy League Title.

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[> Subject: Re: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
joiseyfan
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Date Posted: 21:55:30 05/08/26 Fri

Princeton needs one win tomorrow, Columbia two.

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[> Subject: Re: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 09:46:47 05/09/26 Sat

ML, am I reading this correctly? Mads Lawson has thrown every single pitch for Columbia across three games in the ILT? Can that be right?

I know that the underhand softball pitching motion does not strain the shoulder, elbow and forearm like the overhand baseball throwing motion. Softball teams do not rotate starters as routinely as baseball teams.

But can one pitcher literally take a softball team through four games of an Ivy tournament? Is that physically possible? This is superhero kind of stuff. Meanwhile, major league baseball announcers want to throw a parade if a starter can go five complete innings.

Is it just me, or are modern major league starters p--sies? They are the most coddled athletes in professional sports. Nobody else does less and makes more.

And as joisey points out, Columbia needs to beat Princeton twice today, which would mean a fifth game.

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[> Subject: Re: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
MFK
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Date Posted: 12:15:46 05/09/26 Sat

FWIW, the Brown game was 12 innings, not 15.

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[> Subject: Re: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
The Mountain Lion
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Date Posted: 14:39:55 05/09/26 Sat

joiseyfan is correct -- the 2026 Ivy League Softball Tournament is a double elimination event meaning that Princeton which has yet to lose in the Tournament only has to defeat Columbia once to win the Championship. However, the Lions who won their first two games against Harvard and Brown now need to defeat Princeton twice tonight to win the Tournament. Game. The first game between Princeton and Columbia is scheduled for viewing on ESPN+ tonight at 5:00 pm. Then, If necessary, the two foes will play again at 7:30 pm also on ESPN.

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[> Subject: That’s That


Author:
joiseyfan
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Date Posted: 19:52:02 05/09/26 Sat

Princeton crushed Columbia and Lawson for the second straight day, 8-0 in a five inning mercy game.

Manifestly unfair to ask her to pitch four games in three days. There must have been an alternative to starting her, especially in the third game where she ended up pitching twelve innings.

Congratulations to the Tiger women, now 33-13, who as earlier noted were far superior to the rest of the league at 18-3 and simply never let up on anybody. Let’s hope they put on a good show in the NCAAs. They return fifteen players next year.

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[> [> Subject: Re: That’s That


Author:
The Mountain Lion
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Date Posted: 23:56:20 05/09/26 Sat

The joisy fan's comment that "...Princeton crushed Columbia and Lawson for the second straight day, 8=0 in a five inning mercey game" is somewhat inaccurate inasmuch as the score was tied 0-0 at the end of the first three innings and Columbia's pitcher was clearly outstanding in those first three innings. While Princeton is undoubtedly a terrific softball team, it had the distinct advantage today of being the home team on a rain-soaked field following a long rain delay. If the softball field were a little bit drier, who knows what would have happened.

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[> [> [> Subject: Re: That’s That


Author:
MFK
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Date Posted: 11:04:21 05/10/26 Sun

Joisy Fan's comment is indeed accurate. Unfortunately for you, it's at least a five-inning game and you get no brownie points for being tied after three innings. When you give up 8 runs in two innings and get run ruled, you essentially got crushed. It doesn't matter when the runs are scored. And kindly explain how Princeton had a distinct advantage by playing on a wet field and being the home team. If anything may have influenced the outcome of the game, it would have been if you had gotten a clutch hit in the first inning, before the rain delay and before Princeton had their first at bat. Also, it wasn't a long rain delay.

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[> Subject: Re: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
Bengal
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Date Posted: 11:14:10 05/10/26 Sun

The Columbia pitcher is just a frosh? That is a scary thought. She will only get stronger and better. But one thing that will make her even more effective is a strengthened rotation. She was asked to do too much, wound up giving up 10 earned runs in 9 2/3 innings. Was the Columbia rotation affected by injuries?

The home field is a plus IMO, but the rain and the delay fell on both teams. Maybe a different venue and climate conditions would have altered the scoring, but that can be the case for either team.

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[> Subject: Re: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
joiseyfan
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Date Posted: 18:18:53 05/10/26 Sun

Coincidentally, Princeton starting pitcher Cassidy Shaw was named tournament MVP. She started all three Tiger games, but was pulled after five innings in each.

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[> Subject: What?! Rain was Good for Columbia, Not Princeton


Author:
UT
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Date Posted: 12:34:27 05/14/26 Thu

My take is that the rain was an advantage for Columbia, not Princeton.

First and foremost, given Columbia’s heavy reliance on Lawson, any delay or elongation of the series is good for her and therefore good for the Lions. Originally, the first game of the two-game (if necessary) championship series was scheduled for noon.

The night before, the powers that be took a look at the weather forecast and postponed first pitch to 5:00.

Why on Earth would you make that decision the night before? Both teams are already there in Princeton. Why not wake up Saturday morning and look up into the sky? As it turned out, the skies were cloudy but not raining from noon until 5:00. Then the drops started falling. They could have already played two by then.

Anyway, any delay — before or during the game — is good for Lawson, coming off 402 pitches and 26 innings of work over two days. The best case outcome for Columbia was a 5:00 PM deluge leading to a Sunday rescheduled championship day.

Secondly, Princeton was the better team. If you’re the better team, you want clear skies, a dry track and no wind. You want conditions to not be a factor, because you’re the favorite over the long run. If you’re the weaker team, as Columbia was, you want rain, you want wind, you want delays. You want as many exogenous variables as possible, creating variance and randomness.

Rain was good for Columbia, not bad.

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[> [> Subject: Re: What?! Rain was Good for Columbia, Not Princeton


Author:
sparman
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Date Posted: 15:55:23 05/14/26 Thu

"You want as many exogenous variables as possible..."

For a moment I had a flashback to my mother at the dinner table.

Only on an ivy message board.

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[> [> [> Subject: Re: What?! Rain was Good for Columbia, Not Princeton


Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 20:01:42 05/14/26 Thu

This needs to be explained. Was your mother a research chemist? Mine was, and this is how she too talked.

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[> [> [> Subject: Re: What?! Rain was Good for Columbia, Not Princeton


Author:
sparman
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Date Posted: 21:41:33 05/14/26 Thu

exogenous variables = inedible vegetables

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[> Subject: Re: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
Warrior II
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Date Posted: 22:19:37 05/15/26 Fri

Just read in the NYT that softball players are being poached by the softball biggies.

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[> [> Subject: Re: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
The Mountain Lion
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Date Posted: 19:52:34 05/16/26 Sat

I cannot believe that anyone who works at the NYT has ever been to a women' college softball game or can name any "softball biggie." Indeed, I doubt that any of the Grey Lady's reporters could name a college baseball biggie.

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[> [> [> Subject: Re: Columbia's Standout Softball Pitcher Mads Lawson


Author:
joiseyfan
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Date Posted: 12:12:36 05/17/26 Sun

The Athletic, the NYT sports subsidiary, has been covering the big homer boom in softball all spring. It’s an excellent product.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7277075/2026/05/14/maya-johnson-college-softball-belmont-ncaa-tournament/?source=user_shared_article&unlocked_article_code=1.jFA.u0H3.SHs_iZZztoYS

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