Harvard Kicks Off Season with Split in Lone Star State Trip

The Harvard softball team opened the 2009 season in style this weekend at the Quality Inn & Suites Invitational in Denton, Texas. The Crimson (2-2) split its matches, taking one game apiece from Kansas (7-11) and host North Texas (10-7).

Both victories were last-out walk-off thrillers made possible by the outstanding debut of freshman pitcher Rachel Brown.

“Our coaches told us that pitching wins games, but a great team can win it in the bottom of the seventh,” Brown said. “We can do this, we can expect wins like this, and I think it shows a lot of heart.”

Brown pitched two complete games on the weekend, striking out a combined 21 batters.

“She was unstoppable,” co-captain Bailey Vertovez said. “She keeps us in the game, and we love playing behind her because we know she’s going to get those big outs when we need them.”

HARVARD 3, NORTH TEXAS 2

For the second time on the weekend, the Crimson earned a 3-2 walk-off victory yesterday afternoon.

This time, it was junior Jessica Pledger, who is also a Crimson photographer, who contributed the game-winning RBI.

With two outs, Emily Henderson was hit by a pitch. The sophomore then stole second base, putting her in scoring position when Pledger singled.

Brown pitched her second complete game of the weekend, striking out 10 while scattering just six hits.

Harvard scored a run in each of the first two innings, first on a Pledger RBI groundout, and second on a Mean Green error.

“We were out for blood that second game,” Vertovez said. “Behind Rachel, who is just dominant, mowing their hitters down—we wanted that win really bad.”

KANSAS 10, HARVARD 1

The Jayhawks came out strong and didn’t relent yesterday morning, crossing the plate seven times in the second inning in a run-rule game that was shortened to five innings.

Vertovez gave up six earned runs in just 1.1 innings of work, while junior Margaux Black was touched for three runs in 1.1 innings of relief.

Freshman Julia Moore was perfect in her 1.1 innings.

Though the Crimson was down, 10-0, heading into the top of the fifth, freshman Jane Alexander managed to get her team on the scoreboard.

The rookie ripped a double down the left-field line and was brought home on an RBI single by co-captain Hayley Bock.

NORTH TEXAS 10, HARVARD 6

An eight-run fifth inning and four defensive errors were too much for Harvard to overcome in its Saturday matchup with the Mean Green.

Though Vertovez gave up just two unearned runs in four innings in her 2009 pitching debut, freshman pitcher Marika Zumbro ran into trouble when she entered the game in the fifth inning.

North Texas opened the inning with three straight hits and rolled from there, scorching Zumbro for six hits and seven runs in two-thirds of an inning.

Moore came in to put out the fire, but the Mean Green would plate two more unearned runs before the inning was over.

HARVARD 3, KANSAS 2

Harvard opened its season in dramatic fashion Saturday afternoon, with junior Melissa Schellberg singling home sophomore Ellen Macadam for the walk-off win.

Macadam laced a double to left field, and advanced to third on junior Lauren Murphy’s single.

With two outs in the inning, Whitney Shaw was plunked to load the bases for Schellberg. The junior, who is also a Crimson sports editor, responded with an RBI single to give Harvard its first win of the season.

But the real star of the game was Brown, who hurled a complete-game two-hitter while striking out 11 in her first collegiate start.

“My first game, my first inning out there, I don’t think I took a single breath,” Brown said. “I was so anxious and nervous in a good way…it felt so natural to be on the mound with this team.”

After Kansas got on the board in the top of the third, the Crimson came back with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Alexander came in as a pinch-runner for Shaw, who drew a walk, and reached home on Pledger’s RBI single. Schellberg, who had reached base on a single, scored on an error by the Kansas shortstop.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.