Softball Makes History With 31-10 Record, ECAC Title

The Harvard softball team’s season may have ended yesterday without an Ivy title, an NCAA bid or a thousand-strong crowd of ardent supporters. But what it did have—the best record in school history, the school’s first ECAC championship, and a thousand-strong horde of sweet memories—was plenty to be happy for.

“It was a great year for us,” said junior tri-captain Tiffany Whitton, the Ivy League Player of the Year and ECAC tournament MVP. “31 wins—that’s something to be proud of.”

Wins 29 through 31 came this weekend as Harvard wrapped up the ECAC title.

Harvard opened up the four-team double-elimination tournament with wins over Columbia and Cornell on Saturday. The Crimson met the Lions again yesterday and dropped the day’s first meeting 4-2, but came through with a resounding 10-2 victory to close out the championship.

Because the Crimson was unlikely to earn an at-large bid to NCAAs—a suspicion that was confirmed when selections were revealed last night—Harvard Coach Jenny Allard decided to play in the ECAC tournament to provide a positive close to the season.

“The reason I pushed for [playing in ECACs] is I felt this is a team that should go postseason and this team would do very well postseason,” Allard said. “We had a great season and this concludes it on a high note.”

Several Crimson players took their games to the next level for the postseason. Sophomore middle infielders Sara Williamson and Rachel Goldberg pounded the ball throughout the tournament. Senior pitcher Suzanne Guy earned a complete game shutout on Saturday and freshman Lauren Tanner, who hadn’t tallied a victory all season, earned two this weekend.

Whitton, however, couldn’t take her game to the next level because she has always been outstanding.

The MVP hit 9-for-12 with a home run and four RBI to up her season average to .457. More crucially, she drove in Williamson for the game-winning run on Saturday against Cornell.

“Let’s clone her,” Allard said of Whitton. “Look at what she can do. She’s an incredible hitter.”

There was no mistaking Harvard’s desire to get another shot at Cornell at ECACs. The Big Red and its ace Sarah Sterman ended the Crimson’s Ivy title hopes by a 5-1 count on April 21. Princeton, who had swept Cornell and split with Harvard, went on to win the Ivy title. The Crimson made a much better effort against Sterman on Saturday, leaving Allard thinking what-if.

“If we would have done this and came out like we did, this game, against Cornell at their place, we would have been having a play-in against Princeton,” Allard said.

But the Crimson didn’t get that chance. Instead Princeton was the team to earn a No. 4 seed—the Ivy League’s highest seed since the field expanded to 48 three years ago—in a six-team NCAA Regional. The lack of an Ivy title, however, didn’t detract from this young team’s achievements.

“We had an unbelievable season and we played actually, in totality, better than we did last year [when we split the Ivy title],” Allard said.

Harvard 10, Columbia 2

Two big innings for the Crimson made the difference in the deciding game. In the bottom of the third, Harvard took advantage of a Columbia error to break a 1-1 tie and take a commanding 4-1 lead.

Crimson freshman Lauren Stefanchik bunted her way on base to begin the rally. The very next batter—tri-captain Lisa Watanabe—grounded a potential double-play ball to the right side, but the Columbia first baseman threw the ball wide of second base and into right field. Stefanchik, who was 2-for-4 in both games yesterday, advanced all the way to third on the play, while Watanabe moved to second.

Whitton made the error hurt, bouncing a seeing-eye single past Marconi to score Stefanchik. But after a groundout and strikeout, it looked as if Lion workhorse Allison Buehler—pitching in her third game of the day—would hold Harvard to just one run in the inning.

Williamson made sure that didn’t happen. She laced a double, plating both Watanabe and Whitton and providing Harvard hurlers Guy and Tanner with sufficient run support.

“We were hitting the ball solid in the first game, but we were hitting it right to people,” Allard said. “Then things started falling our way. Buehler started to get tired, but she had an unbelievable day. I give Columbia a ton of credit. To come in here as a No. 4 seed and finish in second place is tremendous.”

After each team scored once in the fourth inning, the Crimson pulled away with five runs in the bottom of the sixth. Whitton began the onslaught with a home run to right-center field, her 13th round-tripper on the season.

After tri-captain Sarah Koppel reached base because of catcher interference, Goldberg, Williamson, and pinch hitter Cecily Gordon each singled and ultimately scored for the final margin of victory.

Each team scored once in the first inning. Harvard’s run came on back-to-back doubles from Whitton and Koppel.

Guy started and pitched three innings for the Crimson, surrendering just one run. Tanner allowed two hits and one run in four innings of work.

“Tanner played a key role both Saturday and Sunday for us,” Allard said. It was great because I wanted to get her some innings in this tournament.”

Columbia 4, Harvard 2

As it began to rain yesterday afternoon, Columbia poured on its offense.

With Harvard leading 2-1, the Lions plated three runs in the top of the fifth to take a lead it would not relinquish.

Sophomore Kara Brotemarkle, who no-hit Columbia through the first three innings, seemed to be in control when Lion centerfielder Monica Thompson grounded into a fielder’s choice for her team’s second out. However, Brotemarkle walked Columbia’s ninth batter. The next batter, shortstop Nikki Campbell, doubled down the left-field line, scoring a run. After the next batter was hit by a pitch, Lion catcher Courtney Ryan capped the rally with a double over Stefanchik’s head in left, bringing in the third and fourth Columbia runs and chasing Brotemarkle in favor of Guy.

Harvard took a 1-0 lead in the first when Whitton brought Stefanchik home with a sacrifice fly.

After Columbia evened the score in the top of the fourth, the Crimson regained the lead in the bottom half with a dramatic suicide squeeze.

Whitton began the inning with a stand-up double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Koppel. That set the stage for Goldberg, Saturday’s heroine, to come through in the clutch once again.

She rose to the occasion, laying down a textbook squeeze bunt. Buehler fielded it but was unable to flip the ball to Ryan in time, and Whitton slid under the tag to give her team a 2-1 advantage.

“We scored a run during the regular season off Buehler on a squeeze, too,” Allard said. “They were playing [Goldberg] to hit, and Tiffany was getting good jumps off the bag, so I said, ‘Let’s try to sneak this in.’”

And while the Crimson threatened again, it wasn’t able to get the key hit it needed and stranded three baserunners over the last two innings.

Harvard 4, Cornell 3

A solid relief outing by Tanner, clutch hitting and baserunning from Williamson, and yet another dramatic game-winning RBI from Whitton were just enough for the Crimson to triumph over Cornell and exonerate itself from three major errors that nearly cost the team the game.

Williamson was flawless against Sterman. She went 4-for-4 and started the game-winning rally in the bottom of the ninth with a two-out single up the middle.

“My teammates helped me a lot by telling me what [Sterman] was doing today before I got up,” Williamson said.

A runner at first with two outs usually isn’t a significant scoring threat, but Whitton—the nation’s leader in RBI—is not your usual hitter. To the surprise of no one, Whitton doubled to left-center. Williamson turned on the jets and Allard waved her in from first, setting up the climactic play at the plate.

The throw from left field had Williamson beat by a step, and Cornell catcher Sandra Alvarez was in position to make the play with the plate seemingly blocked. But Williamson stunned her with a feet-first slide through her legs just as the ball hit her glove. Alvarez could not hold on, and Williamson’s feet touched home to win the game for Harvard.

Williamson’s run capped off a day in which Harvard had pounded Sterman for 12 hits, a vast improvement from when the Crimson fell 5-1 to Cornell on April 21.

“The last time we faced her we couldn’t lay off her up pitch,” Allard said. “So every out we had was popped to first base, popped to second base. Today, we were determined to swing at good pitches.”

Tanner picked up her first career win, pitching three innings in relief of the starter Brotemarkle without giving up an earned run. Tanner had struggled in earlier outings this season but finally came off age on Saturday.

Allard was confident Harvard would win, but faulted the team for prolonging a game it should have comfortably won in seven innings.

The key mistakes were Koppel letting a fly ball drop in front of her, freshman Beth Sabin running into an out at second before Stefanchik crossed the plate on what looked to be a sacrifice fly, and sophomore Breanne Cooley throwing away a grounder with a runner in scoring position. Each gaffe cost Harvard or permitted Cornell a run.

“We didn’t throw the game away, but we didn’t capitalize on all of our opportunities and we made some mistakes defensively we shouldn’t have made,” Allard said.

Two of Harvard’s runs came on RBI from Goldberg—one on a solo shot, the second on a single driving in Whitton. Goldberg, who had been hitting below .200 entering Ivy play, finished the season as the team’s No. 3 hitter behind Whitton and Stefanchik.

Harvard 1, Columbia 0

Given that Harvard had never scored more than two runs in a game against Lion ace Allison Buehler, the Crimson knew it needed to near-flawless pitching and defense to win the ECAC opener, but it did just that in securing the 1-0 victory on Saturday morning as Guy pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout.

Goldberg’s solo home run—a clean line drive to left-center in the bottom of the second—was all the offense Harvard needed as it dispatched the Lions in just 70 minutes of play.

The Lions’ best chance to score came in the top of the fourth when it had runners at first and second with none out, but a disputed call was their undoing.

In one of the deciding plays of the game, the Lions’ Hilary Jacobs grounded to short into the path of baserunner April Jarvis, who collided with Goldberg as she charged the ball. A lengthy discussion between the umpires and Allard ensued, and Jarvis was called out because she did not yield to the fielder making a play on the ball.

Columbia coach Christine Vogt ’94 was hoping for an obstruction call on Goldberg under the argument that she was playing the runner and not the ball. But Allard—and ultimately the umpires—felt Goldberg was making a sufficient charge.

“Sometimes players get overzealous and they see the runner and try to create a collision,” Allard said. “But I didn’t feel [Goldberg’s collision] was blatant enough. And I said, ‘This is what the rulebook says.’ [The umpire] knew it, and he made the correct call.”

The ruling left Columbia with two on and one out instead of the bases loaded with no one out—a dramatic swing of fortune.

After the next Lion batter grounded out and advanced the runners to second and third with two outs, Buehler had a chance to give herself some support from the plate, and she connected well on a hard line drive to second. But senior Cherry Fu made the catch, redeeming herself for an error earlier that inning.

With plenty of time left before the next ECAC game, Allard chose to honor the seniors immediately following the victory over Lions. Watanabe, Fu, Guy and Koppel were saluted for their four years of service and their achievements. One day later, they closed out their careers as ECAC champions.

“It’s a good end to a career,” Koppel said. “I’m sure all the seniors are happy with it. I’m sad. I love playing. We all came together and played really well, which is a great feeling to have to leave on.”

BEST HARVARD SEASONS

BY WIN PERCENTAGE

Year Record Pct. Coach

2002 31-10 .756 Jenny Allard

1982 12-4 .750 John Wentzell

1981 14-5 .737 Kit Morris

1985 17-8 .680 John Wentzell

1995 28-14 .667 Jenny Allard

2002 ECAC Tournament

Saturday May 11

Game One: Harvard 1, Columbia 0

Game Two: Cornell 8, Dartmouth 0 (5 inn.)

Game Three: Columbia 4, Dartmouth 3

Game Four: Harvard 4, Cornell 3 (9 inn.)

Sunday May 12

Game Five: Columbia 1, Cornell 0

Game Six: Columbia 4, Harvard 2

Game Seven: Harvard 10, Columbia 2

Harvard 10, Columbia 2

at Soldiers Field

Columbia (27-23) 100 100 0—2 6 4

Harvard (31-10) 103 105 x—10 12 1

2B: H—Whitton, Koppel, Williamson. C—Campbell. HR: H—Whitton. Pitchers: H—Guy (3.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 K), Tanner W 2-0 (4.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 K). C—Buehler L 14-12 (3.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 K), Grant (3.0 IP, 3 ER, 2 K).

Columbia 4, Harvard 2

at Soldiers Field

Columbia (27-22) 000 130 0—4 6 0

Harvard (30-10) 100 100 0—2 7 0

2B: H—Whitton. C—Campbell, Ryan. Pitchers: H—Brotemarkle L 11-7 (4.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 K), Guy (2.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 K). C—Buehler W 14-11 (7.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 K).

Harvard 4, Cornell 3

at Soldiers Field

Cornell (31-21) 101 001 000—3 4 2

Harvard (30-9) 011 010 001—4 12 2

2B: H—Sabin. C—May. HR: H—Goldberg. Pitchers: H—Brotemarkle (5.1 IP, 1 ER, 5 K), Tanner W 1-0 (3.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 K). C—Sterman L, 22-9 (8.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 K).

Harvard 1, Columbia 0

at Soldiers Field

Columbia (24-22) 000 000 0—0 4 0

Harvard (29-9) 010 000 x—1 4 0

2B: C—Jarvis. HR: H—Goldberg. Pitchers: H—Guy W, 11-2 (7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 K). L—Buehler L, 12-10 (6.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 K).