Softball Splits Low-Scoring Contests Against Lions in Ivy-Opening Doubleheader in New York

It was the weekend the Harvard softball team had been waiting for all season, but in the team’s Ivy League opener, something just wasn’t quite right.

The Crimson’s (13-7, 1-1 Ivy) bats were quiet as the team split a twinbill with Columbia (9-15, 1-1) Saturday afternoon at the Baker Complex in New York, N.Y.

Riding another outstanding performance from freshman hurler Rachel Brown, Harvard took the first game, 1-0, but the team’s lack of offensive production caught up to it in the second contest, which the Lions won by a 2-0 count.

“We just didn’t get the hits that we needed when we needed them,” co-captain Bailey Vertovez said. “We might have put a little too much pressure on ourselves. It wasn’t happening for us yesterday.”

Rain postponed the Crimson’s doubleheader with Penn to this afternoon at 1 p.m. in Philadelphia.

COLUMBIA 2, HARVARD 0

Columbia’s Maggie Johnson had Harvard’s number both on the mound and at the plate in Saturday’s second game. The sophomore pitched a complete game shutout and drove in both of the Lions’ runs with a fourth-inning homer.

“After the second game, we were obviously disappointed,” co-captain Hayley Bock said. “We were hitting a lot of shots, but we definitely didn’t have a lot of luck behind us.”

Sophomore Ellen Macadam got Harvard started on the right foot, launching a double to center field in the top of the first.

She advanced to third on a groundout from junior Jess Pledger, who is also a Crimson photographer, but Bock flied out to end the inning.

The Crimson had another good chance in the fourth, when Pledger got things going with a one-out single.

Rookie pinch runner Jane Alexander moved to second on a Bock sacrifice and advanced to third on a single off the bat of classmate Whitney Shaw. But that was as far as she would get, as junior Melissa Schellberg, who is also a Crimson sports editor, grounded out to end the inning.

Vertovez pitched strongly through the first three frames, not allowing a runner past second base, but Columbia broke the scoreless tie in the fourth.

Junior Dani Pineda led off the inning for the Lions with a single to right field and came home on Johnson’s bomb.

Freshman Julia Moore came on in the fifth and pitched two innings of scoreless relief, but the Crimson couldn’t string together enough hits to get on the scoreboard.

“We wanted to score runs immediately, and when it wasn’t happening, we got a little frustrated,” Vertovez said. “I think it was good to get the first loss over with and move on.”

HARVARD 1, COLUMBIA 0

In Harvard’s Ivy opener, Brown stole the show once again. The rookie pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout, fanning 14 batters, to give her team the narrow 1-0 victory.

“With Rachel on the mound, we felt pretty confident, even though we weren’t scoring a lot of runs,” Bock said.

The Crimson got all its offense in the second inning. After Shaw drew a one-out walk, Schellberg and Vertovez loaded the bases with a pair of two-out singles.

Junior center fielder Stephanie Krysiak, who is also a Crimson sports editor, was hit by a pitch to bring Shaw home with the game’s only run.

Vertovez led the offense with two of the team’s four hits, but the rest of the game was all Brown. The freshman allowed just two baserunners, with Columbia’s only hit coming on a Keli Leong second-inning single, and she struck out the side in the second, fourth and seventh.

Harvard went down in order in the third, fourth and fifth, and although sophomore Emily Henderson drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, she couldn’t advance past second base.

“I think we’re going to try to switch up the lineup and spread out our hitters who have been hitting the ball well,” Vertovez said. “We were all having great at-bats—it just wasn’t falling in. We just need to keep swinging.”

The team didn’t get its offense going until the seventh, when Vertovez and Krysiak strung together back-to-back two-out singles. But Macadam grounded out to end the threat.

“With Ivies, I think people thought that things were going to change,” Bock said. “Nothing needs to change. We have to play just like we did in preseason, play more relaxed, swinging at good pitches and [good] things will definitely follow.”

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