Softball Drops Three of Four at Eagle Classic

Harvard softball traveled south for the second consecutive weekend, and the Crimson (4-4) dropped its first three games at the Eagle Classic in Statesboro, Ga. before earning a victory against Eastern Kentucky.

“This weekend was an opportunity to develop and grow through facing better competition than the previous weekend,” Captain Zoe Galindo said. “It was good to see better, faster pitching and teams that played at a slightly quicker pace of game.”

“We’re working on putting all three pieces of our game together at once, and when we do that we’re an unstoppable team,” Galindo added.

HARVARD 5, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2

Harvard picked up its lone win of the weekend in its final game, a rematch of Saturday’s first game against Eastern Kentucky (12-5).

Junior first baseman Savannah Bradley hit her first home run of the season and drove in three runs, and freshman catcher Elizabeth Shively added two more RBI to lead the Crimson to a 5-2 win.

Harvard jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third and never relinquished the advantage behind a complete-game win from junior starter Taylor Cabe.

Cabe went the distance and scattered five hits and two runs while setting down five batters by strikeout.

Shortstop Rhianna Rich continued to pile up hits in the first few weeks of her college career. Last week’s Ivy League Rookie of the Week singled twice in four at bats and scored a run.

NORTH DAKOTA 3, HARVARD 1

After giving up 12 runs against host Georgia Southern, the Crimson’s pitching staff rebounded to hold North Dakota (5-13) to three runs.

However, Harvard’s hitters were no match for North Dakota’s Kaylin VanDomelen. The redshirt sophomore tossed seven innings of one-run ball and struck out 12 members of the Crimson.

Harvard only managed three hits, all singles, against the Fighting Hawks’ starter.

“We saw some strong pitching that really challenged our hitters and forced us to get better,” Cabe said.

Senior Taylor Hansen, freshman Mary Martin, and junior Rachael Waynick drove in one run apiece for North Dakota, with Waynick’s RBI coming off a home run.

GEORGIA SOUTHERN 12, HARVARD 2 (5 innings)

Georgia Southern (12-7) scored early and often against the Crimson, putting five runs on the scoreboard in its first inning at the plate and building a 10-run lead which cut the game short at 5 innings.

Harvard’s batters struggled mightily against a dominant Dixie Raley. The freshman pitched all five innings and only gave up one earned run and four hits while striking out four.

The Eagles racked up 10 hits, including three doubles and two round-trippers. Sophomore outfielder Alexa Altchek recorded the Crimson’s only extra base hit, a double. That marked the second time in Saturday’s two games that Harvard was unable to muster more than one hit for extra bases.

“Even without the high number of extra base hits, we can still score a lot of runs as long as every batter does their job according to the situation,” Galindo said.

EASTERN KENTUCKY 7, HARVARD 6

In the Crimson’s first contest at the Eagle Classic, Harvard dropped a close decision to the Colonels in the seventh inning.

Heading into the final frame, the score was knotted at six. Captain Morgan Groom stepped into the circle for her fifth inning of relief after the Crimson had just tied the game up by pushing two runners across the plate in the bottom of the sixth.

Groom recorded two quick outs to begin the inning, but eventually Eastern Kentucky’s Rachel Minogue delivered with an RBI single to the left-center gap which plated Kayla Joyce for the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the seventh, junior Alex Sallberg shut down the Harvard offense to preserve the lead for the Colonels. Eastern Kentucky committed four errors, and the Crimson was able to capitalize. Four of its six runs were unearned.

Harvard stranded nine runners on the day, which ties a season-high set in a win against Presbyterian in the season opener.

—Staff writer Jack Stockless can be reached at jackstockless@college.harvard.edu.