Softball Destroyed by Providence

There are moments that an athlete wishes could be relived again and again. And then there are those that are forgotten.

Unfortunately, yesterday's softball performance at Soldier's field falls into the latter category. The Crimson (10-20) intends to quietly set aside the 5-0, 16-1 losses it suffered to Providence College.

"To quote my classmate Lou Body, 'It looked ugly...it was ugly,'" senior Nicole Desharnais said.

The Crimson tried to hold tight in game one as the dominanting Friars swept over it. Providence (26-4) has dismantled formidible opponents throughout the season, including Connecticut and BU, who downed Harvard 2-0 in doubleheader action last week.

The game remained tight in early innings, but the Friars began connecting in third to go up 4-0.

"We just started to lose concentration." senior Ann Kennon said. "They were hitting and we were making errors. After that it just got away from us."

Providence went on to score another unanswered run in the fifth. The Crimson had only six hits on the game and was unable to capitlalize on on-base situations, but tried to score anyway it could. In the top of the sixth, sophomore Amy Reinhard connected on a triple, sending the ball just inside the first-base foul line, and teamate Katina Lee headed toward home plate. Lee collided with the Friar's catcher at the plate, was unable to get the score and suffered an ankle injury in the process.

Lee, sidelined for the rest of the game, was forced to watch as the Crimson went on to lose game one, 5-0. With Lee out, Harvard was forced to go into game two without one of its top batters.

"There weren't really many bright spots on the day and that [Lee's injury] was definitely a dark one," Desharnais said. "She's a great lead off hitter and we definitely missed that in the second game.

Providence lead game two 2-0 in the bottom of the first and was not content to leave well enough alone. The second inning proved to be a Crimson nightmare as the Friars proceeded to score runs to go ahead 9-0.

"They were absolutely crushing the ball," Kennon said. "It wasn't that we were committing errors, it was just one hit after another."

Harvard was able to contribute a run off of a double by Ann Kennon in the fourth which sent Liz Walker home, but the Friars continued to wield their bats with a mighty sway. The game was brought to a halt early in the fifth due to the eight-run mercy rule, the Crimson losing 16-1.

The scarce heroic efforts for the Crimson came form sophomore Amy Reinhard, who was one-for-two hitting in the first game, and contributed an impressive defensive effort throughout the day. Senior Nancy Johnson contributed a perfect hitting performance in the first game (three-for-three), as did Kennon in the second (two-for-two). But on the whole it was a day the team would not like to dwell on.

"We'd like to forget about it, move on and just start thinking about Thursday's game against B.C.," said Kennon. "We just want to put this one behind us."