Cornell University

Cornell University Athletics
Teagle Hall - Campus Road Ithaca, NY 14853

Division 1 New York Northeast

Private Large National competitor

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Coaches

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Julie Farlow

Former Cornell softball standout Julie (Platt) Farlow '97 was elevated to the Big Red's The Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Head Coach of Softball in May of 2015 after serving as assistant and associate head coach since 2002. She took over after longtime head coach Dick Blood retired in the spring of 2015.

With just three seniors on the team, Cornell was unable to to showcase its youth in 2020 after the season was cut short to just nine games. In that span, Cornell amassed a 4-5 record. Senior Bridgette Rooney earned the Ivy Leagues first Player of the Week nod in the shortened year. Cornell showed talent in the circle early in the season as a pair of freshman pitchers, Mia Burd and Gabrielle Maday, posted ERA's under 3.00 to start the season.

The Big Red led the league in doubles and tied for the lead in home runs as one of the youngest teams in Division I in 2019. In all, 299 of the team's 427 starts were by freshmen (70 percent). Junior Bridgette Rooney was a second-team All-Ivy pick and freshmen Allison Kerce and Ashley Delany earned honorable mention status.

Cornell continued its upward trending in 2018. Cornell finished the season with a 15-25 record, two games better than the previous year and four games ahead in conference play with its 10-11 mark. The Big Red earned fifth place after being picked last in the preseason. The Big Red's batting average increased, its ERA decreased and its fielding percentage was second-best in the Ivy League, while four players were named to the all-conference team, including first-team pick Megan Murray.

That came on the heels of the Big Red making a leap from year one to year two of Farlow’s tenure, doubling its Ivy League win total and increasing its overall win total by four games. The team ranked third in the conference in batting average and fielding percentage (jumping from .945 to .968), while lowering its team ERA an impressive run and a half per outing.

In her first season, Farlow’s Big Red team ranked third in the league in slugging percentage and four in batting average behind a pair of All-Ivy offensive players in seniors Meg Parker and Leanne Iannucci. In two seasons, Farlow has developed four All-Ivy League players.

Farlow played an instrumental role in every facet of the program, including recruiting and scheduling, during her time as an assistant coach to Blood, the all-time winningest softball coach in Ivy League history.

During her time on East Hill as an assistant coach, Farlow helped make Cornell softball a power in the Ivy League. The Big Red posted a 396-236-2 overall record and a 155-78 mark in Ivy play with three NCAA tournament appearances and Ivy League titles and four South Division crowns. Those teams posted four of the top five and seven of the top 10 team batting averages in school history, the top nine fielding percentages and three of the program’s four 40-win seasons.

An excellent recruiter and development coach, Farlow assisted in the development of 34 first-team All-Ivy selections, 15 first-team NFCA all-region picks, four Ivy League Players of the Year and one NFCA All-American.

Upon graduating from Cornell, she worked as a traffic engineer for the Sear Brown Group in Rochester, N.Y. and remains a licensed engineer in New York state. She competed in the Empire State Games in 1997 and was a shortstop for the Adirondack Ice women's fast pitch team the same year.

Prior to her stint as an assistant at Cornell, Farlow was a part-time assistant coach at the University of Rochester for four seasons. At Rochester, Farlow assisted with all aspects of team development and was also involved with recruiting and player evaluation.

Farlow was a two-time All-Ivy second-team selection during her career as a second baseman at Cornell and was a member of the 1997 ECAC championship team. In 1996, she posted a .423 batting average to become the first Cornellian to bat over .400 for a season. Her .375 career batting average and .419 on base percentage rank her at the top of both categories. She is 11th in career runs and is 10th all-time in hits with 128. She was inducted into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012. Farlow graduated in 1997 with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering.

A native of Albany, N.Y., Farlow is a graduate of the Academy of the Holy Names, where she lettered in basketball, softball and volleyball. Farlow and her husband, Tom, reside in Ithaca.

Email coach

Tara Tembey

Tembey enters her second season on the Cornell softball staff in 2020-21 following a shortened season in her first year in Ithaca coaching the hitters. The Big Red finished the 2020 season with a 4-5 record and showed promise for the future of the program. Under Tembey, three Big Red batters hit over .370 prior to the seasons cancelation, led by a .483 batting average by senior Bridgette Rooney.