Softball Defeats Boston University

For five innings, a pair of freshman pitchers dueled as the Harvard softball team remained in a scoreless deadlock against Boston University. In the sixth inning, the bats struck back.

The Crimson (12-17, 4-4 Ivy) had advanced runners to third base three times in the first five innings of Tuesday’s contest at Soldiers Field, but had nothing to show for it when the team came up to bat in the bottom of the sixth. Instead, Harvard trailed BU (11-20-1, 2-4 America East), 1-0, after the second Terrier to get a hit all day came around to score on an error a few pitches after stealing second in the top half of the inning.

Fortunately for the home squad, its team leader in hits, extra base hits, home runs, and RBIs was up first. Junior third baseman Kasey Lange got the inning started by blasting a shot into the gap in right for a standup double.

Freshman Haley Davis stepped up next and twice failed to lay down a sacrifice bunt. With the count at 3-2, Davis swung away and ripped a double that landed nearly exactly where Lange’s had to drive in the tying run.

“I just relaxed, took a breath, and hit the ball,” Davis said. “I just knew I had to stay calm and trust my hands and just trust that I had good bat control and that she couldn’t beat me.”

Davis advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and then came home on a throwing error to score what would be the winning run as Harvard went on to beat BU, 2-1.

“We kind of came out and had a few good at-bats in the first run through the lineup…but then we just didn’t adjust,” Crimson coach Jenny Allard said. “Then Kasey and Haley came up big with some good at-bats, and this is something we’ve been working on all year—just getting quality at-bats.”

Three days after giving up a career-high eight runs to Cornell on Saturday, freshman pitcher Morgan Groom bounced back in a big way Tuesday, holding BU scoreless in four innings of one-hit ball before being taken out before the start of the fifth.

“[Groom] felt she needed to rebound after a tough start on Saturday and we gave her the ball,” Allard said. “She really did a great job of getting herself to a good spot and making her pitches work and she threw terrific.”

Early in the game, Terrier freshman hurler Lauren Hynes was similarly effective, limiting Harvard to just three hits in five innings. When the Crimson played small ball to get its base runners into scoring position, Hynes was able to get out of the jam every time before faltering in the sixth, allowing back-to-back doubles to Lange and Davis.

Lange’s team-high seventh double was her only hit of the day, but was enough to extend her hit streak to a season-high four games. Meanwhile, Davis tallied two hits for just the second time in her young career.

After surrendering the first run of the game in the top of sixth, freshman Jamie Halula sealed the game in the seventh despite giving up a lead-off single. Halula retired the next two batters before Kendra Meadows was thrown out trying to steal third. Halula finished the day with one earned run on four hits in three innings of action.

Her one blemish on the scoreboard came in her second frame of duty. After retiring the side in order in the fifth, Halula got the lead-off hitter in the sixth to pop-up but then gave up a single as Jayme Mask beat out the throw for an infield single. Mask then stole second. She came around to score when sophomore Katherine Lantz bobbled a grounder. BU found two more hits, but Halula was able to strand both runners and get out of the inning.

“I thought we did enough to win,” Allard said. “Our pitching kept us in the game. They did a great job.

The midweek non-conference matchup gave the Crimson a chance to improve during a break from Ivy play.

“I thought we were really loose and we had a good kind of focus and a good confidence,” Allard said. “We were relaxed heading into the game—we could have had a little more energy at certain points...but I thought we came out ready to play, and that was good.”

The win was only the Crimson’s second in its last eight contests against the Terriers. Its last win came in 2011 by the same 2-1 margin, when a triple by Lange drove in the winning score. Harvard has now won three of its last four after starting the year 9-16.

—Staff writer Jacob Feldman can be reached at jacobfeldman@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @Jacobfeldman4.