Softball Sweeps, Gets Swept in Ivy Openers

In Soldiers Field’s opening weekend, the Harvard softball team faced Penn and Columbia in a pair of doubleheaders. The Crimson (11-9, 2-2 Ivy) swept Penn (14-10, 6-2) and was swept by Columbia (11-16, 2-6) to establish its Ivy League record at 2-2.

COLUMBIA 6, HARVARD 2

Columbia went ahead, 6-2, on a one-out grand slam by Lacie Nelson in the ninth inning, and Harvard was unable to answer, surrendering to the Lions for the second time that day.

Junior Amanda Watkins threw the first five innings, giving up two unearned runs on eight hits. Freshman Dana Roberts relieved Watkins and pitched the last four innings.

Columbia scored in the first inning off a pair of singles followed by a Crimson throwing error. The Lions struck again in the second inning on a single, a sacrifice bunt, and another throwing error, but were shut out until the ninth.

Harvard began to chip away in the third inning when freshman Stephanie Krysiak crossed the plate after a sacrifice fly by junior Danielle Kerper.

Senior Lauren Brown hit a solo home run to left in the fifth to tie the game at 2. Brown is hitting .408 with three home runs out of the leadoff spot this season.

“We weren’t stringing a lot of hits together,” head coach Jenny Allard said, “We were trying to put runners in scoring position.”

COLUMBIA 2, HARVARD 1

In the first game against Columbia yesterday, Harvard was unable to pull ahead in the low-scoring, 90-minute affair.

Junior Shelly Madick pitched a complete game, surrendering only two runs on nine hits.

The Crimson scored its first and only run of the game in the second inning when freshman Lauren Murphy launched her team-leading seventh home run of the season to center field to lead off.

The Lions immediately answered in the third, and the score was tied at 1 until the seventh and final inning when Columbia scored yet again on a RBI double by Keli Leong. The Lions almost added an insurance run when Leong tried to score from second on a hard hit ball down the third-base line, but Brown gunned her down at the plate.

“We didn’t lose the game on the mound,” Allard said. “We lost the game with errors. Columbia didn’t make mistakes.”

HARVARD 9, PENN 6

Saturday’s second game began with a freshman battery of Roberts and backstop Jessica Pledger. Roberts threw the first 3 1/3 innings, giving up six runs off six hits. Watkins came in as a reliever and pitched the remainder of the game without allowing a single hit or run.

The Crimson took an early 3-0 lead, but the Quakers scored six unanswered to move ahead 6-3. Harvard then scored a pair of runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings on a variety of dropped third strikes, bunts, and base hits.

HARVARD 6, PENN 3

Madick threw a complete game in the home opener to earn her fifth win of the season.

“I knew Penn would come out swinging,” Madick said, “They’re a really good team, a hard fighting team. They’ve come out hard every time we’ve played them.”

Penn scored first off a pair of doubles in the first inning.

Harvard rallied in the second, batting around and scoring five time on four hits, including a bases-loaded double by Kerper.

“[Danielle]’s been coming up in some clutch situations,” Allard said. “She’s a junior, she’s a leader. It’s good to see her in that situation and it’s good to see her come through.”

BOSTON UNIVERSITY 10, HARVARD 4

In the second game of a Thursday doubleheader with BU, both the Crimson and the Terriers (18-8) scored three runs in the first inning.

Harvard would only score once more while BU went on to score in every inning except the second. In addition to having 10 hits on the day, two of which cleared the fence, the Terriers were helped by three costly Harvard errors.

“We started out offensively very strong,” Allard said, “and then we kind of fizzled.”

Four Crimson pitchers appeared in the loss including sophomore Bailey Vertovez, freshman Marguax Black, Watkins, and Roberts.

HARVARD 2, BOSTON UNIVERSITY 1

In the opener, the two teams played a scoreless seven innings and traded runs in the eighth before Harvard eventually won, 2-1, in the ninth.

With the international tiebreaker rule in effect, both squads began the extra innings with a runner on second. The Crimson started the top of the ninth with senior Sarah Shaughnessy pinch running on second. An error by the Terriers shortstop allowed Shaughnessy to cross the plate with the winning run.

Harvard received a dominant performance from Madick on the mound. She carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, and struck out nine while allowing only one unearned run in eight innings of work.

Roberts recorded her second save of the season in the bottom of the ninth when she got the only three batters she faced to ground out.