Spring, Softball and Soldiers Field

The Harvard women's softball team hasn't spent much time at Soldiers Field so far this season.

Bad weather and a wet field have forced the batswomen to postpone games and practice indoors.

But when the Crimson finally had the opportunity to host another game yesterday afternoon, it played like it had somewhere else to go.

After a quick 65 minutes, the Crimson (6-4 overall, 2-2 Ivy League) had captured a 4-0 victory over Brandeis--and the Judges were still waiting to get a runner past second base.

Harvard ace Lora Rowning faced 25 batters in seven innings, while throwing only 14 balls in a 72-pitch effort. She recorded seven strikeouts and didn't walk a batter until the final inning.

"That was a quick one," Harvard Coach John Wentzell said, "and it was all Lora. She was overpowering."

During a three-inning stretch, Rowning pitched all strikes en route to her second two-hit shutout of the season. She never faced more than four batters in an inning, and allowed only four batters to reach base--none of whom managed to round the bases to third.

"Lora's been strong all year," Wentzell said, "and she's getting stronger each time out."

Brandeis, however, didn't have a regular starting pitcher at all.

The Judges' first-string pitcher separated her shoulder in their last outing, knocking her out of the line-up for the remainder of the season.

So when Brandeis took the field in the bottom of the first inning it fielded an unusual line-up: four infielders, three outfielders, and two catchers. But Kelly Jo Williams, normally the starting catcher, found herself playing on the wrong side of the plate.

The back-up hurler looked like she would have been more comfortable in her usual face mask and chest protector. Williams allowed six Crimson hits and walked four batters, as well as getting called for an illegal pitch.

Her replacement behind the plate, Kelly Vaughan, didn't have much better luck. When junior Sharon Hayes went to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning, bases were loaded with two outs and the Crimson up by two runs. Before she even managed to hit the ball, the bases were nearly empty, and Harvard had increased the margin to four.

Passing Victory

Two passed balls had allowed sophomore Nancy Prior, junior Mary Baldauf and Co-Captain Lisa Rowning to advance two bases each, scoring two runs.

Earlier in the same inning, Co-Captain Gia Barressi knocked a line-drive single to rightfield that led to a two-base error. Prior followed with a hit to drive Barressi home.

"We had a few problems," Wentzell said, "but we were never really in danger."

The Crimson grabbed the lead in the second inning when senior Trisha Brown scored on Prior's double.

Harvard batters had trouble early on with the Brandeis outfielders, who played deep to leave the Crimson hard-pressed to put anything over their heads. But by the fourth inning the Crimson was capitalizing on the Judges' defensive alignment with line drives and grounders to short left and center.

"[Brandeis] doesn't play many division one schools," Wentzell said, "but that doesn't matter a lot. They're a good team. They were 11-2 coming into the weekend."

The Crimson will host Wheaton and Tufts in a doubleheader at Soldiers Field on Sunday. Saturday's contest at Brown has been rescheduled for Monday afternoon.