Harvard Softball Finishes Preseason Triumphantly, Heads into Conference Play on Winning Streak

While many of their friends and classmates have used Spring Break to catch up on some much needed sleep or get out of Cambridge before the final stretch of the semester, there was no rest for Harvard softball (11-4, Ivy 0-0) as it headed out to the West Coast to compete in the Santa Clara Invitational. Neither Portland State (4-24, 0-0 BSC) nor Santa Clara (16-10, 0-0 WCC) could stand up to the Crimson’s dominant offense, losing 8-1 and 9-5 respectively. Travelling two hours north to the Saint Mary’s Tournament, Harvard’s fine form continued with 7-5 and 5-4 victories over Weber State (9-21, 0-0 BSC) and host Saint Mary’s (14-15, 0-0 WCC). To cap off the week, the Crimson returned back east to Washington D.C., extending its streak to six games with 2-0 and 1-0 wins against Georgetown (8-13, 0-7 Big East) and George Washington (16-9, 3-0 A10).

Harvard 8, Portland State 1

Despite some struggles to generate offense in North Carolina just two weeks earlier, Harvard came out swinging in its competition against the Vikings. While the first inning saw Portland State prevent senior Savannah Fitzpatrick from scoring with an out a home plate, it was only a matter of time before Harvard found its stride and didn’t look back.

Sophomore Audrey Szollosi led off strong as she has done all season with a single to left field, capitalizing on a throwing mistake from the Vikings to put the Crimson up 1-0. RBI singles from senior Maya Douglas and freshman Quinn Salazar-Stewart brought Fitzpatrick and sophomore Sophie Sun home soon after as the Crimson extended its lead further to 5-0 as first-year Julia Mizo and Salazar-Stewart made it home following a series of errors from Portland State.

With junior Riley Flynn looking unbeatable on the mound, it wasn’t until the sixth inning that Szollosi worked her magic yet again, scoring on a Vikings’ bunt fielding error. Crushing her third home run of the season down the left field line, Sun and Fitzpatrick scored two more runs for an even larger 8-0 gap.

While a series of singles and a wild pitch allowed Portland State to score one run in the bottom of the sixth inning, Harvard swiftly ended the inning and soon the game with a dominant 8-1 win to start its week.

Harvard 9, Santa Clara 5

Just a couple hours later the Crimson was back out on the field starting out strong yet again against the Santa Clara Broncos. This time it was Fitzpatrick and Sun who found home first off RBI singles from Salazar-Stewart and senior Priyanka Kaul to give Harvard a 2-0 lead. Just two innings later, another single from Kaul brought senior Katie Arrambide home, making the score 3-0.

However, Santa Clara fought back in the bottom half of the inning, breaking through sophomore Nicolette Hunter’s clean pitching to close up the game 3-2. A pitching change to first-year Olivia Torres saw Santa Clara tie up the score 3-3 as the Broncos extended their lead an inning later to 5-3.

Harvard came back with a vengeance in the fifth inning with RBI singles from Kaul and junior Finley Payne bringing Sun and Douglas home to tie up the game 5-5 with bases loaded. The rally continued with singles from junior Lael Ayala, Fitzpatrick, and Sun, allowing Harvard to score three more runs with Ayala herself sneaking in one last run to end the inning up 9-5.

Junior captain Ryan Grace subbed in for Torres after Harvard’s six run rally, pitching three scoreless innings allowing just one hit from the Broncos to close out the Crimson’s epic comeback victory.

Harvard 7, Weber State 5

Carrying their offensive momentum from the day before, Harvard came out strong against Weber State yet again with Kaul driving a hard single down the right field line to bring home Fitzpatrick and Sun for a 2-0 lead in the first inning. As Flynn continued to hold down the defensive fort with five strikeouts in three innings, the Crimson came out swinging again in the bottom of the third inning.

Back-to-back doubles from Sun and Douglas brought the score up to 4-0 before Kaul repeated her first inning performance, smashing a single down the right field line allowing Salazar-Stewart and Douglas to extend Harvard’s even further to 6-0. While the Wildcats managed to score one run off of Flynn, Payne restored the Crimson’s six run lead by smashing her first home run of the year to right field.

A pitching change to first-year Linden McCarl saw Weber State with a series of hits in the sixth inning, scoring two runs to bring the score to 7-3. They carried their momentum into the seventh inning, scoring another two runs before Grace closed out the game, securing a 7-5 win to start Harvard’s second round of California competition.

Harvard 5, Saint Mary’s 4

While it took the Crimson an inning to warm up, Kaul followed her career-high single game four RBIs with her second home run of the season to give Harvard the early 1-0 lead. Ayala soon followed up with an RBI single to bring home Payne bringing the score up to 2-0. Saint Mary’s couldn’t respond before Salazar-Stewart hit a fly ball out to left field to bring home Sun in the third inning, extending the lead further to 3-0.

Despite a fielding error allowing the Gael’s to score off of Hunter at their next at-bat, two innings later a walk from Payne and single from first-year Alexa Muller with bases loaded put Harvard up 5-1 in the fifth inning. Although solid hits from Saint Mary’s nearly saw them come back with an RBI single and two run homer closing up the score to 5-4, Hunter confidently closed out the game with six straight outs to end her first complete game of the season.

Harvard 2, Georgetown 0

With just a couple days to rest, the Crimson soon returned back to the east coast, facing off against Georgetown in Washington D.C.

Unable to gain offensive traction and continue their early scoring streak from California, it was instead Harvard’s stellar defense that shined against the Hoyas. Flynn started out strong on the mound, logging three strikeouts and allowing only four hits in four scoreless innings before ceding the circle to Hunter.

Following Flynn’s form, Hunter kept Georgetown at bay with three straight outs to end the fifth inning before the Crimson broke through the Hoyas’ defense in the sixth inning. Szollosi took the game into her own hands making her way to second base off of a single and steal before capitalizing on a single from Sun to steal her way home and give Harvard a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Megan Davies then doubled the lead to 2-0, scoring off an RBI from Salazar-Stewart.

Hunter closed out the game with three scoreless and hitless innings, logging two strikeouts along the way to secure Harvard’s first shutout of the year.

Harvard 1, George Washington 0

The next day’s competition against George Washington marked Harvard’s last preseason competition before beginning Ivy League play. Much like its game against Georgetown, both teams struggled to make ground offensively, neither team scoring through the first five innings.

Hunter started the game in the circle, working with the Crimson’s stalwart defense to lock down the plate, keeping the Revolutionaries scoreless and allowing only three hits through four innings of pitching. Torres came in as relief during the fifth inning, logging a pop up out caught by Payne before Grace subbed in to close out the inning with a strikeout and pickoff from Salazar-Stewart to Sun.

Harvard broke through to take the lead in the top of the sixth inning with Salazar-Stewart finding the gap in left center field to make her way to second base with two outs already on the board. A single from Kaul kept the Crimson’s offense alive before a right field single from Payne brought Salazar-Stewart home for the first run of the game, 1-0.

Despite a runner on third threatening to tie up the game in the seventh inning, Grace ended George Washington’s scoring chance with a strikeout to extend Harvard’s win streak to six. The 1-0 victory caps off the Crimson’s promising preseason, marking the team’s first set of consecutive shutout wins since 2017 as well as 16 straight scoreless innings from Harvard’s pitching staff.

With conference play beginning this weekend, the Crimson will hope to extend its win streak and continue their preseason success in a highly anticipated 2024 Ivy League Tournament Championship rematch against Princeton on March 22, 2025.

– Staff Writer Sofia Zhang can be reached at sofia.zhang@thecrimson.com