Softball Sweeps Home Openers

The last time the Holy Cross softball team visited Soldiers Field was for last year's NCAA best-of-three play-in series versus Harvard. The Crimson handily swept that series to end the Crusaders' season.

If Holy Cross was looking for revenge yesterday, its search went astray. Defending Ivy League champion Harvard (6-11) opened its home season with a convincing doubleheader sweep of Holy Cross (11-11). The Crimson took the first game 8-0, forcing the mercy rule into effect after the sixth inning, and used a four-run fifth inning to win the second, 7-5.

"It's definitely a confidence booster to come back to our home field and show what we're capable of," said co-captain Terri Teller.

Harvard's offense was led by Teller and co-captain Deborah Abeles along with sophomore catcher Mairead McKendry. Teller maintained her hot stick from the Crimson's West Coast spring break swing, going 3-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored.

Abeles had a 2-for-6 afternoon on a pair of doubles with two RBI and four runs scored. McKendry went 4-for-6 on the day with three RBI and Harvard's only home run.

Sophomore hurler Chelsea Thoke (4-6) picked up both victories, striking out 12 batters in eight innings of work.

Harvard 7, Holy Cross 5

The Crimson wasted no time getting on the board in the second game of the double dip. In the bottom of the first, junior centerfielder Jessie Amberg sent a towering shot into rightfield that fell just short of the fence and ended up as a double.

Two batters later, Teller looped a Texas leaguer over second base that plated Amberg, and Teller took second when Holy Cross pitcher Genoa Grosch failed to cut off the throw to the plate. Teller scored Harvard's second run when freshman utility player Sarah Koppel roped a double off the leftfield fence.

The Crimson added another run in the fourth when McKendry tagged her first tater of the season, a line drive that was still rising as it cleared the fence in left.

"We didn't score a ton of runs in California," Abeles said. "Now people are becoming more confident that we can score."

Meanwhile, Koppel was on the mound looking for her first collegiate victory, and she narrowly averted a pair of threats by the Crusaders thanks to some nifty defense by the Crimson.

Holy Cross had runners at second and third with one out in the top of the second, but Koppel got the Crusaders' Sarah Thomas to fly out to freshman Lisa Watanabe in leftfield before senior second baseman Tara LaSovage snagged Alexis Lyon's line drive to end the inning.

Holy Cross threatened in the fourth as well. The Crusaders once again had runners on second and third with only one out, but junior first baseman Ghia Godfree snatched a bunt attempt out of the air and alertly threw to Abeles, who was covering third, for the double play to get Koppel out of the jam.

But Koppel's luck ran out in the fifth. With two outs and a runner on third, Holy Cross junior catcher Briana Crane singled into centerfield to plate the Crusaders' first run. Crane reached third on the play when the ball got by Amberg and rolled all the way to the fence.

Sophomore Jaime Olenoski doubled to drive Crane in, and another Harvard error allowed tri-captain Jennifer Jenkins to reach base. Freshman Liz Curll then smashed a Koppel offering over the centerfield fence to give Holy Cross a 5-3 lead.

The Crimson did not allow the Crusaders to entertain thoughts of grandeur very long. After back-to-back singles by LaSovage and Amberg and an Abeles walk to start the bottom half of the fifth, Teller knocked a two-run double into right-centerfield to tie the game. Godfree later singled up the middle to score Abeles with the eventual game-winning run, and Watanabe's bloop single plated Teller for some insurance.

"This is definitely the strongest lineup we've had in my four years," Teller said. "From top to bottom we have players who are capable of hitting the ball hard."

But Harvard would not need to hit the ball anymore. Thoke came in to pitch the final two innings, struck out three of the six batters she faced and retired the side in order in the seventh to seal the win.

Harvard 8, Holy Cross 0

The first game was not as problematic for the Crimson. Behind a nine-strikeout performance by Thoke, Harvard ended the game one inning early by forcing the eight-run mercy rule into effect after the sixth inning.

For a while, however, it seemed that Harvard did not want to score. Two baserunning errors in the early innings cost the Crimson at least one run. Both occurred when Harvard runners failed to advance on fly balls, apparently having difficulty judging the hits.

The Crimson finally broke through in the bottom of the third when, with the bases loaded, Koppel ripped a single down the leftfield line to score Abeles. McKendry followed with a single up the middle that plated Teller and Thoke, and Harvard led 3-0 after three.

The Crimson was not done, however. Watanabe led off the fourth with a double, and LaSovage followed with a walk. Amberg then laid down a bunt that Holy Cross pitcher Caitlyn McCarthy fielded. McCarthy threw to third, but the speedy Watanabe beat the throw and the bags were juiced for Abeles.

The Crimson's shortstop, infamous for wielding a big stick, smashed one into straightaway center that fell about three feet short of the fence. Watanabe and LaSovage scored on the play, and Abeles ended up on second.

"We were focused on playing our game," Abeles said. "It didn't matter who we were playing."

Teller reached on a fielder's choice that resulted in Amberg being put out at home. Koppel then came up with her second ribbie of the game, plating Abeles on a single to left. McKendry followed with a screamer to left that Curll could not handle, allowing Teller to score the Crimson's seventh run.

It only took two batters for Harvard to seal the deal in the bottom of the sixth, and fittingly they were the Crimson's two captains. Abeles led off the inning with a double off the bottom of the fence in center, and Teller drove in her co-captain with a double down the leftfield line to end the game.

Thoke, meanwhile, was simply overpowering on the mound. The sophomore pitched a complete game two-hitter and allowed only one walk to go with her nine strikeouts.

"Thoke impressed me," Teller said. "She was hitting her spots, her pitches were moving and she kept them off balance the entire game."

Notes

The twin bill versus Holy Cross represented Harvard's first home games of the season after a 15-game trip in California. The Crimson went 4-11 on the West Coast while facing some of the nation's best teams, including Cal State Fullerton and defending national champion Fresno State.

Teller led Harvard at the start of the extended road trip. She batted .562 in the Cal State-Hayward tournament and was named to the all-tournament team. Abeles had the hot bat in the final six games of the spring break trip, batting .444 and stroking her first dinger of the season.