Sloppy Batswomen Falter Then Walk By Smith, 5-4

Come the end of the year, when all the wins and losses are tallied up in the record book, yesterday's game against Smith will be deceptive.

Just one more notch in the win column for the Harvard softball team.

And perhaps that's a good thing--a 5-4, extra-inning victory can be mighty pleasant in retrospect.

But yesterday afternoon, exasperation won out over pleasure in the battle for emotion-of-the-day at Soldiers Field.

"We've got to get up for everyone we play," Crimson Coach John Wentzell said after his team escaped with a sloppy nine-inning triumph. "You've got to play at 100 percent or you're going to pay the price, and we almost paid the price today.

"I guess one good thing you could say is that we didn't die."

Death may have been out as an option-but zombie imitations were in.

The batswomen did a spiffy "Inning of the Living Dead" routine in the top of the sixth, committing three errors, blowing a two-run lead, and allowing three Smithies to score. After that mini-debacle, however, Harvard settled down, squeaking through three nerve-wracking frames before finally emerging on top.

Ironically, the Crimson (now 5-2) had looked a lot sharper in its only other extra-inning contest of the year--a game it lost to Boston College on Tuesday, 3-2.

For at least one key moment yesterday, though, Harvard was just sharp enough.

And that moment came in the bottom of the sixth, with two down and the shell-shocked Crimson trying desperately to rally from a one-run deficit.

Co-Captain Mary Sheehan cracked a would-be single down the right field line but--with Smith's Sarah Kight taking her time going after the ball--Sheehan turned the corner and wheeled into second with a heads-up double.

Second baseman Mary Baldauf promptly blooped a single over third base, driving in Sheehan with the tying run.

Harvard had jumped to an early lead after Lisa Rowning walked and scored on a Trisha Brown single in the first inning.

The visitors tied the score in the top of the third, when Jill Rogaski smashed an RBI triple to right center off Crimson starter Janet Dicker-man.

Rowning doubled home Baldauf in the bottom of the third to put the Crimson back on top, though, and Baldauf scored yet again in the fifth to pad the lead.

In the top of the sixth, however, disaster struck for Dickerman, who had yielded just two hits prior to that point. Following the three consecutive Harvard errors loaded the bases for Smith, a pair of subsequent singles brought the trio home.

The gutsy Dickerman worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the seventh, but left in favor of reliever Gerri Rubin with runners on second and third in the eighth.

Rubin went the rest of the way, helping her own cause by walking with the bases loaded to drive home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard departs today for doubleheaders at Penn (on Saturday) and Princeton (Sunday), in the first Ivy League weekend of the season. The Tigers are defending league champions...Rubin (now 3-0) is the only undefeated pitcher on the staff.