W. Softball Road Warriors Earn 2-2 Split Over Weekend

It was a trying adventure for the Harvard women's softball in taking to the road over the weekend to face Princeton and Cornell. From flat tires to rain delays, the team was harried throughout the trip, but in managed to come away with a split of four games.

On Saturday, after a two-hour weather delay, Harvard took to the field against Princeton. The Tigers (23-9 overall, 6-0 Ivy) took two from the Cantabs--but not without a battle.

Harvard's Jana Meader kept a tight leash on the Tigers in the early going, allowing only one hit in her first three innings. But Princeton was finally able to score two runs in the fourth and added another two in the late innings to beat Harvard 4-0.

It was another 4-0 win for Princeton in game two. Although the Tigers scored two rungs in the first, Harvard shut their bats down and held them scoreless until sixth inning.

"We played really solid defense and had very few errors," senior Nicole Desharnais said,

"I think that's the best we've played against Princeton in my four years here. I don't see the losses as being really negative."

The Crimson (10-18, 2-2 Ivy) demonstrated its resilience by soundly tromping Cornell in two Sunday afternoon contests.

The story in Ithaca was Liz Walker--the junior pitcher walked all over the Big Red in game one pitching a no hitter en route to a 9-0 victory.

Bats were on fire as the Crimson jumped out 4-0 in the second inning of game one.

Five more runs were added in the fifth to shut the game down early via the mercy rule.

In game two that fire continued to smolder as Harvard again collapsed Cornell 7-2. Melissa Krueder drove in two runs with a double in the third; Christina Vogt followed in the fifth with a two-run triple.

Walker stepped up to the mound in the bottom of the fifth to wipe away the Big Red once and for all. By doubleheader's end Walker had shut down Cornell's hitting and struck out six more batters.

Defensively, Harvard was tough all weekend. The Crimson, struggling with errors all season heretofore, was able to keep its numbers downs over the weekend, including a one-error performance against Cornell.