Batswomen Get Split Against Elis

No one can question the rivalry between Harvard and Yale. Whenever the Crimson and the Elis clash, the two teams usually crank the level of intensity a notch higher.

Saturday at Soldiers Field, another chapter was added to the rivalry when the Harvard softball team hosted Yale in a doubleheader. The Crimson took the first game in extra innings, 1-0, while the Elis edged out Harvard, 4-3, in the second game.

Although Harvard (11-9 overall, 2-4 Ivy) could not manage a sweep that would have put the Crimson in a tie for second place with Brown and Yale (12-24, 4-2) in the Ivies, the hosts still had their level of intensity blaring at full blast.

Defensively, Harvard was sharp. In the pitching category (read Harvard hurler Lora Rowning), the Crimson was stingy. In the hitting department, Harvard was clutch.

But so were the Elis.

"Those were two good ballgames," Yale Coach Jane Martindell said. "We always have tough games with Harvard."

The first game was as tough as trying to hit a Lee Smith fastball blinfolded with a toothpick. Rowning and Yale pitcher Amy Wolberg exchanged doughnuts for seven innings. The defensive plays were just as sparkling, as players were lunging and hustling for line drives and fly balls.

Harvard finally cracked Wolberg in the bottom of the eighth inning when Co-Captain Mary Baldauf led off with a single, catcher Nancy Prior sacrificed Bauldauf. over to second. Liz Crowley poked an opposite-field single that put runners at the corners with one out.

Co-Captain Sharon Hayes then laced a single to left that brought in Balduaf for the game-winning run.

Rowning held the Elis to four hits four Harvard's first shutout of the season. Her only scare came in the fifth inning, when she had to face a one-out, bases loaded situation. Rowning got Bonnie Coutu to pop up to Crowley in centerfield and Hayes nabbed the final out of the inning when she threw out Seema Hingorani on a groundball to short.

In the second game, it was Yale with the clutch hits. With the Elis leading, 2-1, lefty Eileen Duggan lead off the sixth inning with a homerun to right. In the seventh inning, Jill Monaco scored Hingorani on a sacrifice fly to give Yale a 4-1 lead.

After Harvard failed to capitalize on a no-out bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning, the Crimson loaded the bases again in the seventh. Baldauf scored on an error by Hingorani and Beth Wambach drove Crowley home with a single.