Softball Battles Cornell for NCAA Berth

After a slightly disappointing start to the 2001 season, Harvard softball team (22-21, 11-3 Ivy) won its last six Ivy regular season games to tie Cornell (34-16, 11-3) for the Ivy League title. Unfortunately, only one team can represent the Ivy League in the NCAA Tournament, thus necessitating a best-of-three playoff this weekend to be held at Harvard's Soldiers Field.

The last time these two teams met, the Crimson split a doubleheader with the Big Red that put its season in jeopardy. Harvard defeated Cornell in the first game 7-3, but then went on to suffer a 2-1 loss in the second.

A huge factor in the second game was the pitching of Cornell star Nicole Zitarelli. Zitarelli started the season as the second-winningest pitcher in Big Red history. She added 15 wins to that record this season, including the second game against Harvard. During that start, the Crimson was only able to muster one run against her-and that one run was unearned.

In her senior year at Cornell, Zitarelli has used her incredible control to maintain a 1.72 ERA. In 142.1 innings, she has struck out 90 batters while only walking 35.

In the doubleheader earlier this year, Kristen Hricenak, Erin Sweeney and Melissa Cannon did the most damage at the plate for Cornell. Sweeney and Cannon each had multiple hit games, while Hricenak homered in the Crimson loss.

Sarah Sterman, the Big Red's second pitcher, will be a force to be reckoned with on the mound this weekend. Sterman has posted a 14-7 record and a 1.84 ERA this year, and will most likely start one of the games in Saturday's doubleheader.

Harvard was able to hit her last time, however, as she gave up seven runs in the April game.

In addition to strong pitching, the Big Red has some productive hitters who will force the Crimson pitching staff to be at its best this weekend. Cornell has eight batters hitting over .300. The top two power threats, Kate Varde and Allison Batten, have hit 13 and 10 home runs, respectively.

Due to the challenge the Big Red poses at the plate, pitch selection will be crucial. In order to beat the Big Red, Harvard plans to go at batters with the changeup.

"Cornell hitters are constantly looking for the fast pitch," said senior pitcher Chelsea Thoke.

Additionally, the lack of offensive production in the game against Zitarelli in April has to be rectified this weekend. In total, Zitarelli only gave up five hits in her previous start against Harvard.

The overall Crimson mindset will not be any different coming into the play-in series than it was the first time the two teams met.

"We are going to come out the same way," Thoke said. "We played well the first time, we just didn't get many runs."

In this game, Thoke and her teammates hope to simply focus on the pitches that the players want to, and can, hit. The Crimson needs to do everything it can to stay on top of Cornell's dangerous pitching squad.

It is not yet known who will start the games for the Crimson, but Thoke will most likely start one of the games on Saturday. Thoke and Zitarelli have not faced each other head-to-head this season, but it will be interesting to see if the Big Red use its ace against Harvard's.

The weekend tripleheader, with two games on Saturday and a third on Sunday if necessary, will be tough for the Crimson. However, Harvard has been on a roll recently-at least when it has faced Ivy League competition. The team won its last six league games to earn a share of the conference championship. Cornell, meanwhile, won three of four games in its last Ivy weekend.

"We have been pretty relaxed going into Ivy League games," Thoke said of the team's stretch run. "We were very uptight in the games we have lost. Now, we know what we want to do and we're going to get it done."