Offensive Outburst Marks Twinbill Sweep

The Harvard softball team swept Brown in dominating fashion in yesterday afternoon’s doubleheader at the Erickson Athletic Complex.

The Crimson (24-14, 10-6 Ivy) won the first game, 11-0, and the second, 12-2, to narrow Dartmouth’s lead in the Ivy League North Division standings to a single game. Harvard and the Big Green meet next weekend in a home-and-home series to decide the division title.

“They were huge wins for us, because if we had split today and Dartmouth had split, as they did, we would have been two games behind, which means we would have had to win four out of four against them and now we only need to win three out of four,” freshman pitcher Rachel Brown said. “They really were breakout games for us, and we have a lot of confidence going into next weekend.”

Junior Jen Francis paced the Crimson’s offensive efforts, launching a home run in Game 1 and going 3-for-3 in Game 2. She was helped by co-captain Bailey Vertovez and sophomore Ellen Macadam, who both drove in three runs on the day.

“I think everyone–our whole lineup, one through nine–was so tough,” Brown said. “I definitely would not want to be pitching to our team right now, because I have confidence. We’re really hitting our stride right now at the end of the season, which is the most important time to do it.”

HARVARD 12, BROWN 2

The Bears came out firing in the second game, scoring two runs in the first inning to take its first—and only—lead of the day. The Crimson made sure that the lead was short-lived, as it scored two runs of its own as its bats came alive in the second inning.

“We were patient,” freshman Whitney Shaw said. “We knew we were hitting the ball, and we knew that we had to keep doing what we were doing and we weren’t going to let [Saturday’s] split get us down. We’ve been working hard to get out of our hitting slump and it just really paid off this past weekend.”

Shaw got the action going when she singled to first. She was able to score off a Francis double and a single by junior Melissa Schellberg, who is also a Crimson sports editor.

Harvard’s biggest inning of the weekend came in the fourth, as Macadam hit a double with the bases loaded for two RBI, and singles by Francis and Schellberg combined for three more runs, making it a 9-2 game.

The Crimson scored three more in the fifth inning to end the game early by the mercy rule.

“We’ve all been working really hard to tweak our swings and work hard on our fundamentals–swinging and taking a lot of cuts,” Shaw said. “We did a good job and stuck with it and were a tough out every single time.”

HARVARD 11, BROWN 0

Brown and freshman Julia Moore combined efforts in the opener to pitch a two-hit shutout against the Bears. Brown, who pitched the game’s first five innings, struck out six Bears batters in her 14th win of the season.

“Coming off of a rough outing from the day before, I talked with the coach and went out with a strong mental approach to approach every inning like it’s the first inning,” Brown said. “Sometimes it’s really hard when you have such a big lead. Pitching’s really a mental game, so today I felt a lot better.”

Harvard got the scoring going in the fourth when Vertovez hit a double to center with two runners on base. She came home when sophomore Emily Henderson and junior Stephanie Krysiak, who is also a Crimson sports editor, followed up with successive singles. The inning ended with Harvard up, 4-0, when Shaw was walked with the bases loaded.

Things just kept getting better for the Crimson, as it added three in the fifth inning and four in the sixth.

And that was all Harvard needed to ensure an early ending to the game, as Moore stepped in to pitch a scoreless bottom of the sixth.

—Staff writer Lucy D. Chen can be reached at lucychen@fas.harvard.edu.