Softball Preps for Four Against Yale

When the Harvard softball team takes the field against Yale in its annual divisional matchup this weekend, the team will find itself in a drastically different situation than it was in last year.

The Crimson (12-17, 4-4 Ivy) will host Yale (8-22, 3-5) in two doubleheaders to kick off divisional play that will round out the rest of the Ivy League season.

Before the rivalry matchup last year, the Crimson were 7-1 in Ivy League play, while the Bulldogs were 1-7. If the outcome of last year’s contest wasn’t clear from the start, Harvard’s momentum alone must have been apparent.

The Crimson swept the Bulldogs through all four games and outscored them, 49-6, with Harvard going on to win the Ivy League crown and Yale finishing dead last.

This year’s contest looks like it will be closer, with the Bulldogs only one game behind the Crimson in the Ivy League standings. Yale has several new faces, including first-year head coach Jen Goodwin.

“We’re excited for the matchup,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “I think Yale will definitely be better than last year. They’ve got a few new players and a new coach, and they’re battling harder. Their sweep of Cornell was impressive. On the other hand, I think we’re playing really confidently, we’re pitching the ball harder, our defense is solid, and we’re getting some timely hits.”

The four games will be followed by consecutive double-doubleheaders against Brown and Dartmouth in the coming weeks that will shape the outcome of the Ivy race.

The Crimson is currently tied with the Big Green atop the North Division standings.

“They’re really important games,” freshman pitcher Morgan Groom said. “We really need to come out strong, pitching strong, batting strong, because we want to get a leg up for the rest of the Ivy League games. These last few weeks are going to decide a lot of the season for us.”

Harvard will have to deal with a Bulldog offense that is coming off of some key wins, including a two-game sweep of Cornell. Harvard split games with the Big Red last weekend.

Yale sophomore Sarah Oronato is having a very impressive second season, with 10 home runs and a .440 batting average on the season. The catcher had a 20-game hit streak snapped earlier this week against Wagner, the fourth-longest in Ivy history.

Allard thinks the Crimson is up to the task of minimizing the damage Oronato can cause.

“I think we’re doing a good job of just challenging opponents,” Allard said. “I think nothing is going to be different. We know that, if a player is playing hot, we’re not going to put them in a position to hurt us. We’ll respect how Sarah’s swinging her bat, but we’re still going to be aggressive.”

Oronato highlights an offense that has otherwise been struggling to produce throughout the season. Yale has been outhit 202-293; the disparity in runs is even higher, at 99-186.

The Crimson offense, on the other hand, has outhit their opponents 215-190 and has been getting help from all over the bench. The team has a .279 batting average, and six players have crossed home plate 10 or more times on the year.

Junior Kasey Lange, who leads the team with eight home runs and 26 RBI, has helmed the batting lineup with a .433 batting average, tied for best on the team. Sophomores Emily Gusse and Katherine Lantz have helped bolster the offense, combining for 31 RBI off of 23 hits.

The veteran offense will be looking to take advantage of a Bulldog pitching rotation that has recorded a 4.67 ERA on the season, split between four different pitchers. Junior Chelsey Dunham has the most playing time with 14 starts and has given up 108 hits and a whopping eight home runs on the season.

The mismatch on offense is good news for a young Harvard pitching squad that is still figuring out how to work best together. The trio of sophomore Gabrielle Ruiz and freshmen Groom and Jamie Halula have a collective 3.71 ERA and have traded off starting and relieving throughout the season.Groom has the most innings pitched with 81.2 and Halula has the second-most with 67.1.

The weekend games will be a statement for the race for the Ivy League title as Harvard moves into the last few weeks of competition.

“It’s critical to continue to play well going into the final stretch to put ourselves in the position to play for a championship,” Allard said. “Consistency is something we haven’t focused on enough, so we’re looking to put more effort into being more consistent in certain aspects of our game.”

—Staff writer Alex L. Saich can be reached at asaich@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @Sensaichonal.