Softball Swept in Ivy Play for First Time in Five Years

The Harvard softball team had gone over five years without being swept in an Ivy doubleheader, so yesterday’s pair of losses to Cornell left the Crimson in a highly unfamiliar situation.

Harvard (5-19, 0-2 Ivy) led in both ends of its doubleheader but failed to contain the Big Red bats, which pounded a total of nine home runs from six different batters.

After taking the first game 6-4, Cornell (18-4, 3-1) needed just six innings to win the second game 10-2. Big Red junior Kate Varde, one of the nation’s leading hitters with a .530 average, went 5-for-7 with three home runs for the afternoon.

The Crimson’s Ivy-opening doubleheader came a full week later than originally scheduled. All but three of its last eight games had been postponed or cancelled leading up to the Cornell games, and Harvard dropped those three contests by a combined 28-0 margin. Those outcomes left the team with no momentum prior to facing one of its top Ivy rivals in the Big Red.

“Right now the pitching staff and the team lack confidence,” said Harvard coach Jenny Allard. “Somehow we need to reach down deep and find that confidence when we play.”

The Crimson had originally been set to play Cornell on Saturday and Columbia yesterday, but both doubleheaders were postponed a day due to weather. Harvard is scheduled to play Columbia today at 2 p.m.

“For tomorrow I don’t think we should focus on what happened today, because there’s nothing we can do about it now,” said junior captain Kara Brotemarkle, who took the loss in the first game. “We’ll look forward to Columbia tomorrow and the continuation of our season.”

Allard’s hope is that with a strong performance tomorrow, her team will gain some momentum and reverse its worst Ivy start in years.

“It’s disappointing, but Harvard softball is a great program and we’ll always be a great program,” Allard said. “Obviously this year we’ve been struggling, and our goal right now is to turn it around and develop some confidence and momentum.”

Cornell 10, Harvard 2 (6 inn.)

The Crimson led 2-1 in the top of the fourth of game two behind the pitching of freshman Michelle McAteer, but McAteer was pulled after allowing a leadoff hit to Varde. In came sophomore Lauren Tanner, who surrendered a three-run homer to Erin Kizer the same inning.

The Big Red went up 7-2 by leading off the top of the fifth with three consecutive home runs by Melissa Cannon, Varde and sophomore Lauren May. After the first two home runs against Tanner, McAteer re-entered the game and gave up the third home run.

Varde hit her third home run and Cornell’s ninth of the afternoon in the sixth inning off McAteer.

McAteer, who had pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief in the first game, only suffered one blemish in the first three innings of game two—a solo shot by May in the second.

Harvard took its only lead of the game with two runs in the third inning. Junior Sara Williamson tied the game with a clutch pinch-hit double that drove in freshman Erin Halpenny, who had led off the inning with a double. Sophomore Lauren Stefanchik, who re-entered the game for Williamson at second, scored the go-ahead run when she attempted to steal third and Big Red catcher Melissa Heintz threw the ball into the outfield.

Cornell 6, Harvard 4

For a few shinning moments in the first game, Harvard appeared to be in control against Cornell ace Sarah Sterman.

Sterman, a 2002 First Team All-Ivy pitcher, gave up just four runs all season in her seven Ivy starts last year. The Crimson scored four runs off her in just one inning yesterday.

Those runs came courtesy of a pair of two-run homers by junior shortstop Rachel Goldberg and sophomore catcher Laura Miller. The blasts turned a two-run Harvard deficit into a 4-2 lead.

Varde had given the Big Red a 2-0 lead with a home run in the first inning and an RBI single in the third.

The silence from the Cornell bench after the Miller home run was a beautiful sound for the Crimson, but it did not last through the next inning.

In the fourth, Brotemarkle had the misfortune of letting two Big Red hitters from the bottom of the order reach base. When Brotemarkle hit the top of the order, Cornell leadoff hitter Erin Sweeney made her pay with a three-run blast to put the Big Red up 5-4.

Harvard had its best chance to tie the game in the fifth when Stefanchik led off with a single and Goldberg bunted her to second. But Sterman struck out tri-captain Tiffany Whitton and sophomore Beth Sabin to end the threat.

Heintz’ home run in the top of the sixth left the Crimson with a two-run deficit.

The only offense Harvard could muster in the last two innings was a leadoff single by freshman Rachel Murray in the seventh. The Crimson’s chance to beat Sterman had already passed.

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.