Softball Drops Pitcher's Duel at Boston University

The annual crosstown battle between the Harvard softball team and Boston University on Tuesday was much more ‘High Noon’ than ‘The Departed’. Under a blazing sun reminiscent of the Southwest, Crimson hurlers Rachel Brown and Laura Ricciardone dueled through the afternoon with Terrier ace Holli Floetker, but a sixth-inning BU sacrifice fly was all Floetker would need as the Terriers defended their territory with a 1-0 win.

A low-scoring affair was all but guaranteed when Harvard (24-11, 11-1 Ivy) traveled a mile and a half to face BU (25-13, 8-3 America East).

After both teams combined to score 22 runs two years ago, it was Ricciardone and Brown who came out on top in a 2-1 battle on the Terrier’s turf last season. So this time around, Floetker was out for revenge.

The reigning America East Pitcher of the Year struck out nine Crimson batters while surrendering three hits on the afternoon. Only one Harvard hit touched the outfield grass.

“Our hitters knew going into the game that they were going to have to make an adjustment from Yale pitching to BU pitching,” Brown said. “[Floetker] effectively used her strengths against us and we as batters didn’t take away those strengths.”

Brown, the notorious gunslinger with a villainous arsenal, was nearly perfect in her own right to start the game. In four innings of action, the senior struck out six and gave up only two hits. She has now given up just two runs in her last 14 innings of work stretching over four appearances.

When Ricciardone entered the fray in Brown’s stead in the bottom of the fifth inning, there was anything but a drop-off. The sophomore started the inning with a three-pitch strikeout on three perfectly placed offerings on the outside corner. She proceeded to end the inning on another strikeout and a groundout.

“Both Rachel and Laura did a great job today, virtually shutting them out,” coach Jenny Allard said. “I thought the game ball goes to Rachel and Laura; they looked great today, and BU is a good hitting team. They are scoring a lot of runs.”

Early on, the game appeared to be headed in a different direction, as BU’s third hitter, Megan Volpano, crushed a potential home-run ball to left field that fell at the base of the wall for a double. But a Terrier runner wouldn’t touch second base again until the sixth inning.

That frame started with BU’s No. 9 hitter, Melanie Delgado, driving a ball right up the middle towards Ricciardone, who was unable to corral it as the ball caromed off her glove. Kendra Meadows was sent in to pinch run for Delgado, and she soon found herself on second after third baseman Kasey Lange failed to cleanly field a bunt by Jayme Mask, leaving runners on first and second. A sacrifice bunt later, the runners were on second and third with one out.

Next up was Volpano, the only player in the game to reach base twice (on the first-inning double and a subsequent walk). The righty drove a fly ball to center, deep enough for Meadows to tag up when the ball was caught and score easily from third. Ricciardone got out of the inning on the next batter but not before the damage was done.

Initially, it appeared that the Crimson would respond in the sixth inning. A hit batter sandwiched by two singles­—all with two outs—left the bases jammed and sophomore catcher Allison Scott at the plate.

But after lacing a ball that sliced foul, Scott ended the two-out rally with a grounder to second. After crossing the plate for what she thought might have been the first run of the game, senior Jane Alexander watched Scott reach first base a step after the ball did.

After the game, Allard said she didn’t consider sending a pinch hitter in for Scott, who’s hitting .238 on the year.

“She had two great at-bats against [Floetker], she was on the ball,” Allard said. “If anybody was going to come through, it was her. And she hit it solid; it was just six inches foul.”

In the seventh, the Crimson was unable to mount any sort of last-inning charge as they went down 1-2-3 to end the game.

“We need to be a little more disciplined at the plate against a little quicker pitching, but we aren’t going to see that level of pitching again,” Allard said. “It was a great game, a back and forth pitching duel.”

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacobfeldman@college.harvard.edu.