Softball Drops Pair in California

Despite senior Jessica Pledger’s solid performance—going 2-for-4 with two RBI—the Harvard women’s softball team suffered a pair of losses this Tuesday at Smith Field in Los Angeles, Calif., losing to Loyola Marymount, 3-0, and Bucknell, 7-6.

Pledger was one of only four Crimson batters to record a hit in the Lions’ shutout, and she doubled against the Bison to give Harvard its first lead of the game.

“They are both good teams,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “I thought we came out a little flat against Loyola, but we came out strong against Bucknell…[Pledger] had two hits that drove in two runs that was a highlight.”

With the two losses, the Crimson falls to 4-7 on the season, but having not yet played any conference games, the team hopes to translate its preseason experiences into Ivy League victories.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 3, HARVARD 0

The host Lions (5-11) shut out the Crimson on Tuesday, allowing only four hits in seven innings of play.

“We didn’t have as much energy as we would’ve liked,” senior Dana Roberts said, “[and] we weren’t really hitting the ball as well as we have been.”

In the second inning, with the scored tied at zero, Loyola Marymount’s Brittany Pereda recorded a two-run homer to center field off Harvard sophomore pitcher Rachel Brown. The Lions later built on that lead by scoring again in the fifth inning to make the score 3-0.

Brown took her first loss of the season on the mound while striking out eight and giving up no walks. Quite a few illegal pitches were called by the umpire on Brown and Loyola Marymount’s pitcher Melissa Dykema—much to the surprise of both coaches. Allard attributes Brown’s brief loss of focus to those calls.

“We had an empire that started to call illegal pitches for both pitchers,” she said. “He was calling these pitches unnecessarily. That was disappointing and kind of threw Rachel off, and she gave off a couple of key hits that were uncharacteristic.”

The Crimson’s best chance came in the top of the sixth inning, when the bases were loaded with two outs for freshman Jessica Ferri, who grounded out to shortstop.

“We actually got the basis loaded,” sophomore Whitney Shaw said. “That was our almost-comeback, [but] we just didn’t come out with the fire needed to beat them.”

BUCKNELL 7, HARVARD 6

The Bison (3-2) stole the game from the Crimson with a late four-score rally in the bottom of the sixth inning to notch a 7-6 victory. Ferri threw several wild pitches that advanced Bucknell base runners, and Brown could not stop the bleeding, as she allowed 4 RBI before ending the inning by catching a Bison base runner stealing.

“Unfortunately,” Roberts said, “after we got ahead 6-3, we didn’t have what it took to close the door in the sixth inning. They loaded the bases, and we changed pitchers. They were really gunning for us. They came back and scored four runs.”

Bucknell got the scoring started with a two-run first inning, but the Crimson responded by scoring once in the fourth and twice in the fifth while allowing one run in the fourth to tie the game at three.

Junior Emily Henderson sparked the Harvard offense with a single in the fourth followed by three consecutive stolen bases to score the first Crimson run of the game.

“[Henderson] got on base,” Roberts said, “[and] she basically stole second, stole third, [and] stole home to get us on the board, which was really a breakthrough inning for us.”

In addition, Harvard displayed flashes of defensive brilliance, with junior Ellen Macadam’s diving catch in shallow center field resulting in a double play to end the fifth inning. The sixth inning turned into a slugfest, with the Crimson recording three runs on four hits and the Bison taking four runs to make the game 7-6.

In the top of the seventh, the Crimson managed to get two on base before senior Jennifer Francis grounded out to end the game.

“We only had the top of the seventh to come back,” Roberts said, “and we just didn’t quite have enough.”