Cornell Crushes Softball’s Ivy Title Dreams

The Harvard softball team was one inning away from staying in contention for its second consecutive Ivy League title this weekend. The Crimson needed sweeps of Columbia and defending Ivy champion Cornell this weekend to keep pace with league-leading Princeton. But Harvard’s defense proved to be its undoing and put a blemish on an otherwise outstanding year.

Princeton (29-15, 13-1 Ivy) clinched the Ivy title with sweeps of Brown and Yale this weekend while yesterday’s split with Cornell knocked the Crimson (26-8, 10-2) out of the Ivy title race. Princeton had swept Cornell (22-18, 6-6) earlier this season.

With four games remaining, Harvard has a chance to reach 30 wins, but it lost the chance to win Ivy rings and play in the NCAA tournament.

“We were obviously disappointed,” said sophomore third baseman Breanne Cooley. “Winning the Ivy League title was one of our goals, but we came up a bit short. We still had a lot of success and are proud of the season we had.”

Accomplishing the goal of 30 wins would put a silver lining to a difficult end to the season.

“The rest of the season we are playing for pride,” said sophomore second baseman Sara Williamson. “We will play out the season just as we had if we hadn’t lost to Cornell.”

Cornell 5, Harvard 1

Five runs in the fifth inning of Game One against Cornell spelled doom for the Crimson’s hopes of winning this year’s Ivy title yesterday. In a game Harvard needed to win to keep pace with a streaking Princeton squad, the team played close until a series of bizarre hits and an untimely error put the Big Red ahead for good.

After four solid innings where sophomore Kara Brotemarkle allowed only one hit, she opened up the fifth inning by hitting Cornell’s Sandra Alvarez with a pitch. The next batter placed a bunt between Brotemarkle and first to advance the runner for only the second Cornell hit of the day.

With two on and no outs, Cornell attempted another bunt, which was poorly fielded by Williamson, loading the bases.

Cornell capitalized by hitting a bloop single over sophomore shortstop Rachel Goldberg to bring in Alvarez and take a lead it would not relinquish.

Last week’s Ivy Freshman of the Week Lauren May then hit a double into the gap in right center to clear the bases and put the game out of reach.

“We just left the door open for Cornell to score, and they took advantage of that,” said Williamson. “They came into the fifth strong, hit the ball hard, and put runs across the plate.”

Harvard’s only offensive production came in the sixth inning. Sophomore Kim Koral reached base on a grounder through the left side of the infield. Junior tri-captain Tiffany Whitton then singled to advance the runner, allowing Williamson to bring Koral home on a sacrifice fly. The short rally was not enough as the Crimson only came away with one run in the inning.

Cornell’s Sarah Sterman earned her sixth straight win, by only allowing three hits while recording four strikeouts. Princeton’s Brie Galicinao was the only pitcher to beat Sterman as a starter in Ivy play.

Harvard’s Brotemarkle allowed an equally impressive five hits, but took the loss. Senior Suzanne Guy relived Brotemarkle in the fifth; pitching a perfect one and a third innings to keep Harvard close.

Harvard 5, Cornell 3

The breaks finally went Harvard’s way in the second game, as the team was able to score four unearned runs in the contest’s fourth inning.

The Crimson and Guy fell into an early hole against the Big Red. With one on, Cornell’s Annette Sheppard hit a triple to bring in the base runner. In an attempt to throw out Sheppard as she approached third base, Harvard overthrew Cooley at third base to allow Sheppard to score. But Harvard’s fortune would soon change, thanks to three Cornell errors, including a passed ball and a wild pitch.

Harvard was able to score four times to take a 4-2 lead. Sheppard would not let Cornell go quietly, slamming a solo home run in the bottom of the inning to keep the score close at 4-3. Goldberg finally shut the door the next inning with an RBI single to cap the scoring and help Harvard avoid the sweep.

Guy pitched a complete game to earn her ninth win, allowing nine hits but no walks. Her four strikeouts along with her performance in the first game capped a strong day’s work for Guy.

Harvard 2, Columbia 0

The bats were silent during most of the first game against Columbia (21-15, 4-6) on Saturday. Brotemarkle allowed only four hits in her complete game shutout. Her second scoreless performance of the season was enough to secure the win, even though the Crimson was only able to muster two runs in the game.

All of the scoring came in a third inning flurry led by Williamson and Goldberg. After reaching base on a single, Goldberg was able to score the winning run on a Columbia error. Later in the inning, Williamson brought in an insurance run with a sacrifice fly, capping the afternoon’s output.

“We came out ready to play because we knew Columbia was a strong team,” Williamson said. “Our first objective was to take the two games as they came and not worry about what was happing in the rest of the league.”

Harvard 6, Columbia 2

The third time was again the charm for the Crimson as it broke open a scoreless game with a solo shot by Goldberg. Koral went three for four with one run, helping Harvard put up four runs in the next two innings. Freshman Cecily Gordon had two RBIs and two runs in going two-for-three at the plate, helping put the game out of reach. Guy earned the win by allowing only one run in five innings of work.