Softball Drops Three In Tough Weekend Swing

The frustration continues.

Despite a hopeful performance against the BC Eagles last Thursday, the Crimson put in a disappointing effort this weekend at home against Penn and Yale. The Crimson emerged with a 1-4 mark in the Ivy contests, bringing its record to 12-24 (3-6 Ivy).

The Quakers darted out to an early 2-0 lead Saturday afternoon, but Harvard didn't let them get far. The Crimson battled back in the third and fourth innings to knot the score at 2-2. But when the Penn bats began to connect in the late innings of the game, it was all Harvard could do to sit back and watch.

"We weren't committing errors," sophomore Amy Reinhard said. "They were just hitting the ball extremely hard."

Penn touched the plate four more times in the remainder of the game to bring the final to 6-2.

Game two was decided by the sort of late-game comebacks the Crimson has been famous for his season. The Quakers again sped out in front of Harvard in early innings, 6-3.

But the batswomen of Soldiers field were not going to resign themselves to another mark in the loss column. Harvard scored five runs to go up 8-6 and didn't look back.

With a 6-6 score, sophomore Danielle Feinberg brought in Ann Kennon from third for the game winning run and RBI. The defense then stepped up to the line to hold the Quakers scoreless for the remainder of the game and secure the 8-6 win.

But when in came time for the softballers to face off against their age-old nemesis and the defending Ivy League champion, Yale, on Sunday afternoon, the defense slipped in the starting block.

The Crimson certainly had trouble with its footing, committing four errors in the first two innings alone.

Adding to Crimson maladies was sophomore Eli pitcher Jennifer Surface. The former Ivy League Rookie of the Year worked hard on the mound for all of game one and half of game two to quell any dreams of victory the Crimson may have had dancing in its head.

The Bulldogs easily walked over Harvard, 8-0, in game one and eeked out a 3-2 win a in game two.

"I think we were a little bit jittery in the first game," Reinhard said. "We just let ourselves get intimidated by them because they won Ivies last year. We collected ourselves in the second game and we had plenty of opportunities, but we just didn't quite come through."

The senior trio of Ann Kennon, Nicole Desharnais and Nancy Johnson led the Crimson hitting in game two, but their bats were not enough to hold off the baying Bulldogs, who boarded the buses for New Haven with two wins on the day.