Crimson Battles Penn, Cold

Despite the rain storms that cancelled the Harvard baseball games yesterday, the softball team battled Penn to a draw in its final home Ivy doubleheader. The Crimson took the first game 7-6 before falling 8-0 in the second.

Whether the games should have taken place was another matter.

“Administratively, it was not handled well,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “We should not have played today. Baseball did not play; we should not play.”

“There’s a little bit of a double standard,” she added. “Just because this team was here, we were forced to do everything we could to play, and we played in very poor conditions. I’ve got a shortstop and a second baseman that might have pulled muscles because they were playing in 38-degree weather.”

PENN 8, HARVARD 0

The Quakers got on the board on the third pitch of yesterday’s game, as Annie Kinsey took sophomore starter Shelley Madick deep to left field.

A walk, a flyout, and a double later, Madick was pulled in favor of freshman Bailey Vertovez with Harvard down 2-0. Vertovez induced a fly ball and a strikeout to end the inning.

The rains returned after the first, leading to the second rain delay of the game. Music that played over the public address system led both teams to show off their dancing skills, including some numbers that appeared highly choreographed, leading some fans to suggest that the game should be replaced with a dance-off.

“It depends which song was playing,” Allard said when asked which team would have won a dance competition. “It was great that the teams stayed up, and they were having fun, and they were making the best of a horrible situation.”

Penn added a run in the second on a Kinsey double and rounded out the scoring with two in the fifth, one in the sixth, and two in the seventh.

Vertovez pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on five hits with four strikeouts. Senior Michele McAteer pitched the final two innings, surrendering three runs—two earned—on seven hits.

The Crimson was unable to get any runs across against the Quaker’s Emily Denstedt, stranding 12 runners in the game.

“We were hitting the ball hard, and they were making great plays,” Allard said. “They were playing deep in the outfield, and we were hitting it right at them.”

Harvard almost scored in the sixth inning when Vertovez was called out at the plate on a throw from right field after a hit by junior Lauren Brown. Vertovez appeared to have slid underneath the tag at home, but the umpire disagreed.

The Crimson mustered five hits, including doubles by sophmomore Danielle Kerper and junior Julia Kidder.

HARVARD 7, PENN 6

The Crimson scored early and often, then held on against a furious Quaker rally in the seventh to take the opener. Harvard scored four runs in the first inning off Penn starter Lindsey Permar, highlighted by freshman Hayley Bock’s two-run homer to left.

“They were seeing her [Permar] well,” Allard said. “They were loose in warmups, and they were just ready to go.”

After a one-two-three second inning, the Crimson struck again in the third for three more runs.

Kidder scored her second run of the contest on a towering blast by senior Rachel Murray that cleared the scoreboard at Soldiers Field. Senior Pilar Adams drove in the third run with a double, scoring Vertovez.

Quaker pitcher Olivia Mauro was called in to put out the fire in the third and held Harvard scoreless for the remainder of the contest.

Crimson sophomore starter Amanda Watkins went six innings, giving up six runs, four earned, while striking out four and walking two.

Watkins was pulled after a 30-minute rain delay that began after three batters in the top of the seventh, all of whom had reached base.

Madick came in to close the game with Harvard ahead 7-3, and all three inherited runners scored before Madick struck out Melissa Haffner to end the game with the tying run on third base.

The finish was a welcome one for the Crimson, which has had difficulty at times sealing the deal in games.

“It was a big victory just to stay strong,” Allard said, “and not panic, and stay confident, and get it done. We knew we could close out the game. We learned from some other bad experiences.”

Murray finished the day 2-for-3 with four RBIs and two runs scored, while Bock finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.

—Staff writer Brad Hinshelwood can be reached at bhinshel@fas.harvard.edu.