Softball Clinches Championship Berth

And the dream lives on.

A sweep of Dartmouth in a doubleheader yesterday assured the Harvard softball team of a place in the Ivy League Championship Series against Cornell next weekend.

The Crimson came into the weekend—which featured a pair of home-and-home twinbills against the Big Green—two games ahead of Dartmouth in the North Division standings.

Yesterday afternoon, sophomore first baseman Whitney Shaw hit a three-run homer in the first inning to give Harvard an early lead, and sophomore Rachel Brown and co-captain Margaux Black combined to pitch six scoreless innings as the Crimson cruised to a 9-0 win.

Harvard entered the nightcap with its magic number down to one. Again the Crimson jumped out to a lead in the first inning, thanks in part to a two-RBI single from senior right fielder Jennifer Francis. Brown and Black teamed up once more for seven innings of one-run ball, and Harvard clinched its third North Division title in four years with the 7-1 victory.

Elsewhere, in the South Division, the Big Red continued its dominance. Cornell clinched its division in Game 1 of a doubleheader against Princeton as its ace, Elizabeth Dalrymple, conceded just one run in seven innings and led the Big Red to an 8-1 win.

After another victory over the Tigers in Game 2 yesterday, 7-4, Cornell has an opportunity to clinch home-field advantage for next weekend. Two Big Red wins today or a win and a Harvard loss will send the Crimson to Ithaca for the three-game Ivy League Championship Series.

Next weekend will give the Harvard seniors a chance to bookend their career with Ivy titles. As freshmen, the Crimson swept Penn in the inaugural championship series. If the head-to-head record is any indication—Harvard and Cornell split a doubleheader in Ithaca earlier this season—the title is up for grabs.