Softball Grabs Second Place at ECACs

1996

Sports Statistics

Record: 32-19-1, 8-4 Ivy

Ivy Finish: 2nd

Coach: Jenny Allard

Key Players: Co-Captain Katina Lee, Junior Tasha Cupp, Freshman Deborah Abeles

1997

The 1997 season was a bittersweet one for the Harvard softball team. While the Crimson came up short of its goal to capture an Ivy crown, a late-season surge helped Harvard secure a trip to the ECAC Tournament, where it captured second place and capped off a very successful season.

Harvard started the season in rocky fashion, dropping its first three games to Central Michigan, Florida Atlantic and Auburn. However, the Crimson bounced right back to win its next four contests, three of them against the very same opponents.

The roller coaster ride continued from there. Harvard had trouble mustering up any offense and the squad dropped six of its next seven games, all of them at home.

But then the ride took a nice turn, as the Crimson won 11 of its next 12 games. The highlight of that stretch was an 11-inning thriller which Harvard stole from Holy Cross, 2-1.

The Crimson then went without a victory in its next five games before drubbing Yale, 9-2. During the subsequent two weeks, Harvard did not have a winning or losing streak that lasted more than two games.

That is when the Harvard bats came to life.

With six of its last eight regular season games being Ivy contests, the Crimson made a furious run at the title. The team went on a seven-game winning streak and, although unable to catch the eventual champion Brown, Harvard secured a second-place finish in the Ancient Eight standings.

The only thing left to do at that point was to wait and see if the Crimson would earn an invitation to the ECAC Championships. And when May 10 came around, the Harvard players found themselves on the diamond once again, playing for a different title.

Despite dropping its opening-round game in the tournament to Cornell, Harvard came right back and reeled off three consecutive victories, including an 8-0 avenging of that first loss. The Crimson would come up just short, however, falling to the Big Red 6-3 in the championship game.

With second-place finishes in the Ivy League standings and the ECAC Championships, the season was definitely a success for the Crimson. The same can be said for a number of individuals on the team.

Senior outfielder Melissa Kreuder was Harvard's leading hitter and fifth in the Ivies with a .372 batting average. For her efforts, Kreuder was the only Harvard player named to the Northeast All-Region first team.

Freshman shortstop Deborah Abeles made the most of her inaugural season, hitting .338 and leading the league in triples (6) and RBIs (37). Abeles was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week in two of the last three weeks of the season.

Sophomore Terri Teller's .329 average and co-captain Katina Lee's .325 average placed them 12th and 14th on the list of the Ivy League's leading hitters. Lee also led the league in hits (61).

Collectively Harvard was the only team to have four players on the list of the league's top 15 hitters. The Crimson as a team led the league in hits (401).

Harvard also made its mark defensively in the form of junior pitcher Tasha Cupp. Cupp easily led the Ivies in strikeouts with 182 (52 more than her nearest competitor), and her 1.87 ERA was third best in the league. She was named Ivy League Pitcher of the Week in the second week of the season.

Overall Harvard had a good year on the diamond. The team is graduating three seniors in Kreuder, Lee and co-captain Melissa Reyen. But with two of its top hitters returning along with a pitching staff led by the remarkable "T-Cupp", the Crimson should once again challenge for the Ivy League crown next season.