Batwomen Beat Wheaton Despite Defensive Woes

The Harvard softball team posted a 10-6 victory over host Wheaton yesterday, upping the Crimson record to 2-0.

The batwomen took advantage of the Wheaton pitchers lack of control, drawing six walks en route to an eight run second inning. Senior Pat Home and junior Landya Boyer drove in two runs apiece as the Crimson roared back from an early 3-0 deficit and knocked two pitchers our of the box.

Harvard pitcher Gerri Rubin had some problems of her own in the fifth, when Wheaton tallied three runs to close the gap to 8-6.

"She struggled with her pitching...had trouble finding the strike zone," Harvard Coach John Wentzell said of Rubin's final inning.

But in the sixth inning freshman Mary Mackinnon came to the rescue of classmate Rubin, and the wheaton uprising skidded to a stop. Mackinnon retired all six batters while earning her first college save. Rubin has won both of Harvard's games.

"We were lucky to get our with a win." Wentzell said. "They played well enough just t o get by."

Though the Crimson had little difficulty getting runs, defensive letdowns evident in Friday's season-opening 13-8 overpowering of Mt. Holyoke continued to plague the team.

"Wentzell attributed his squad's defensive shortcomiongs to inexperience, citing the loss of five regulars off last year's Crimson. "We've had to replace our starting defense from last year's so we've got to have a few holes." he said.

Adjustment

The batwomen get a chance to patch up their defense Wednesday when they travel to B.U. Fortunately for the young Crimson, the Ivy championships are still nearly three weeks away, plenty of time to gear up for the tougher league competition.

Predicted Assistant Coach Dan Leist (a Harvard junior) "We probably won't blow anyone out, but it should be an interesting season."