Listless Batswomen Continue Skid, 3-1, 5-1

When you're 1-14, nothing seems to go your way.

The Harvard women's softball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Hofstra, 3-1 and 5-1, yesterday at wind-swept Soldiers Field. The Crimson (1-16 overall, 1-3 Ivy) were frozen at the plate by standout Hofstra pitcher Leslie Schlegel, who hurled two complete games while yielding only one earned run.

The icy Crimson have had a difficult time scoring runs this season and yesterday's twin bill was no different.

The opener started on a negative note when Harvard starter Julie Fromholz surrendered an unearned run to the Turtles on an error, a wild pitch, a balk and a sacrifice bunt in the first inning.

Hofstra sealed the win in the second frame when it scraped up two more runs off of hard-luck loser Fromholz. Despite a solid outing--giving up only one earned run in seven innings--the sophomore hurler was victimized by a less than over-powering performance at the plate by her Crimson teammates.

Harvard was unable to touch Schlegel in the first game, mustering only one unearned run off of the towering righthander thanks to a pair of fielding errors by the Hofstra defense.

The second game wasn't any better.

With the score knotted, 0-0, the Turtles picked up two unearned runs off Crimson starter Nancy Sparrow. Two hits, two errors and two passed balls were enough to give Hofstra a lead it would never relinquish.

In the bottom of the third, the Crimson mounted its only serious offensive threat. Freshman shortstop Leticia Ibarra walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Co-Captain Jen Clawson. With one out, sophomore secondbaseman Rachel Donaldson beat out an infield hit to put runners on the corners.

Up to the plate came Co-Captain Beth Reilly, whose two hits in the first game accounted for half of the team's total. On the second pitch to the junior thirdbaseman, Donaldson took off for second and was gunned down by Hofstra catcher Beth Gaudet, eliminating the tying run from the basepaths.

Reilly then delivered her third hit of the day, an RBI single to leftfield, scoring Ibarra. Sparrow grounded out, and the inning was over.

Hofstra added three more runs to the margin, while Schlegel easily handled the Crimson batters, keeping them constantly guessing with an effective sinker that nicely complemented her fastball.

The Crimson continued to display a strong pitching tandem in Sparrow and Fromholz, but their efforts once again went for naught due to some key defensive breakdowns and a lack of consistent hitting. In a rebuilding season, Harvard needs to look towards improving fundamentals, making the routine play and enjoying themselves out on the diamond.

THE NOTEBOOK: The Crimson continues its homestand with a twin bill on Saturday against Cornell at Soldiers Field at 1 p.m. before hosting Stonehill for two games on Tuesday.