Dryden’s Cornell throws no hitter, reaches 300 Ks

Section IV softball has been graced with many extraordinary pitchers throughout the years, but only a few hail from Tompkins County. Dryden’s Kahlen Cornell has become one of the top softball pitchers in the section, and she recently wrote her name into the history books. Twice. On April 24, Cornell threw her first career no-hitter and reached 300 career strikeouts in a 13-1 win over Trumansburg. After walking the first batter, Cornell did not give up a single hit afterwards, something that she credits her teammates for helping out with.

“It feels really good knowing that my team behind me was super clean in the field,” Cornell said. “[They] allowed those couple of hits to not end up being errors or anything like that. We played super clean, so that felt good.”

Every time a pitcher steps on the mound—or in Cornell’s case, in the circle—the aim is always to pitch the best they can but never expect perfection, let alone throwing a no-hitter. But during warmups, Cornell had a feeling that it was going to be a memorable outing.

“Because I’m a drop ball pitcher, I was like, ‘Yeah, my drop is working right now,’” Cornell said. “Going into the game, knowing that my drop ball was on fire that day, it felt good, and I knew that it was going to probably help me a lot in the game.”

According to the Section IV Softball website, which has been tracking no-hitters since 2017, Cornell is the first Dryden player to achieve such a feat in the last seven years. The only other pitchers from Tompkins County to throw a no-hitter during that time period were Ithaca’s Jenna Plue (against Lansing last season) and Madisyn Spencer (who threw a combined no-hitter with Plue against Norwich, also occurring in 2022).

Cornell is not the only Lion to throw a no-hitter in recent memory. Last season, baseball’s Connor Boothroyd dealt a no-hitter, ironically also against Trumansburg.

As for the 300 career strikeouts, Cornell entered this campaign sitting at 241, meaning she has accumulated over 60 strikeouts through the first nine games of the season. The reigning IAC North Large Division MVP continues to improve her craft both in the circle and at the plate.

“I’ve been taking a lot of pride in my pitching because I feel like that’s kind of what I’ve been known for around the area,” Cornell said. “But I put a lot of work in the offseason into my hitting as much as I did my pitching this year, and right now it’s showing. It feels good.”

The week before she threw a no-hitter was when Cornell’s equally tremendous batting prowess was on full display. Over the span of three games, the senior went 12-13 at the plate, including hitting a walk-off double in a wild comeback win against Spencer-Van Etten/Candor on April 20.

“Knowing that before the season I was hitting okay, and then getting on base every single time you’re up pretty much, it’s crazy,” Cornell said. “During the game, you don’t really realize it, but then after the game when you’re looking at your own stats, and you’re like ‘Wow, I just went 4-4 that game,’ you don’t really realize how big it is until you do.”

Cornell also shared what specific improvements she has made in the batter’s box to become a more complete two-way player.

“I have been focusing myself on hitting that outside pitch,” Cornell said. “Sometimes that can be the pitch that gets me, but recently I’ve been able to really hit that pitch well, and so being able to see the ball has been really helping.”

The Lions have had a strong start to the season, currently sitting at 7-2 as of April 30. Like last season, the IAC North Large Division title is a two-horse race between Dryden and Lansing. While the Lions shut out the Bobcats 7-0 in the first meeting, they fell 3-1 in the following game, meaning the title is still up for grabs heading into the final stretch of the regular season. Cornell hopes to close out her time with the Lions bringing some hardware back to Dryden.

“We definitely want to get that IAC title and the division title,” Cornell said. “It’s definitely something that we’ve all been working towards. Losing our senior class last year, it was a big chunk of girls that did a lot for us. But I think that we’ve kind of realized that, took note of that and moved on and got ourselves to the point that we need to be at in order to still do even better this year than we did last year.”

The Lions are in search of their first divisional and league title since 1988. They resume play on May 3 against Union Springs.