Softball Could Earn Ivy Perfection

The Harvard softball team seeks to complete an undefeated Ivy League campaign as it faces Dartmouth for a doubleheader tomorrow with the comfort of knowing it has already accomplished more than any previous Crimson squad.

Harvard (29-20, 10-0 Ivy) will travel to Hanover with the title of Ivy League champion and a No. 4 ranking in the NCAA Division I Northeast Region. After its twin bill against the Big Green (10-26-1, 3-7), the Crimson will return to Cambridge and await the winner of the Patriot League tournament, which Harvard will host for a best-of-three play-in series on May 7 and 8.

Holy Cross (25-16-1, 15-5 Patriot League) is the favorite to make the trip to Soldiers Field for the play-in. The winner of the play-in will join three other teams at the NCAA Northeast Regionals on May 15 to play for a spot in the NCAA World Series on May 21. But Harvard doesn't want to overlook the possibility of a perfect league record with a sweep of Dartmouth.

"Going undefeated in the league is a matter of pride for us because Princeton is the only team that has done it," said senior pitcher Tasha Cupp.

"We are using Dartmouth as a tool to prepare for the play-in," said coach Jenny Allard.

While the sixth-place Big Green is six games behind the Crimson, Dartmouth has been improving its level of play recently. The perennial Ancient Eight doormat starts six freshmen, and the young team is improving as its first season together draws to a close. The Green's sweep of last-place Penn last weekend set a team record of three Ivy wins in a season.

Four freshmen are leading Dartmouth's offensive attack. Chief among them is shortstop Jenny Harsey, who cracked the Ivy honor roll last weekend with two doubles, three RBI and three stolen bases and leads the team with a .314 batting average. She is tied for the league lead in triples with Harvard short-stop Deborah Abeles.

But Harvard has been tough to beat since it returned from its spring break trip to the West Coast. The Crimson is on a seven-game winning streak, has won 15 of its last 18 games and was 17-7 in April.

"Everything is really starting to come together for us," Cupp said. "Our defense is great, I think the pitching is solid and we have been hitting really well."

The senior pitcher has been as hot as anyone on the road to Harvard's first Ancient Eight title. In 19 innings against Boston College, Penn and Cornell, she allowed only one earned run and fanned 23 batters to earn her second Ivy Pitcher of the Week Award this season. Then she outdid herself with six strikeouts and a perfect game in Tuesday's sweep of Rhode Island. The three-time Second Team All-Ivy selection has set Harvard strikeout records for a single season (182) and a career (465).

Although Cupp (14-5, 1.96) only has two comrades in the bullpen, the three-woman pitching staff has been more than adequate. Senior hurler Heather Brown (2-6, 4.76) got a crucial victory against Penn last Saturday, and freshman Chelsea Thoke (13-9, 4.27) has established herself as a threat in the Ancient Eight by winning the last two Rookie of the Week Awards. She leads the league with 115 strikeouts in Ivy League action.

"We only have three pitchers, so no one really rests a lot here," Allard said. "But they have been a strong staff for us, and I am just going to do what we have been doing."

"Chelsea and Heather have been pitching really well this season and I have not had to work as many innings as last year, so I feel rested and ready to go for this weekend and the postseason," Cupp said.

The production of the Crimson batters has complemented Harvard's pitching staff nicely. Junior co-captain Tara LaSovage, hitting .357, was the Ivy Player of the Week after hitting safely in nine of 15 attempts against Penn and Cornell, including four extra-base hits. Abeles, the 1997 Ivy Rookie of the Year, leads the Ancient Eight in RBI, home runs, triples and total bases and is second in batting average and hits.

Senior co-captain Jenny Franzese is a solid leadoff hitter with a .333 average. The eight position players have also helped out their pitchers in the field with a .951 fielding percentage, second in the league.

The last week of April was chock-full of highlights with the Crimson's first-ever Ivy championship, a perfect game, and Harvard players winning all three Ivy awards for the week. Harvard is playing its best softball in its best season ever, but it may have to play even better to advance to the NCAA regionals and perhaps to the World Series.

"I want to score more runs," Allard said. "I want to consistently score a lot of runs and hit like we are capable of hitting consistently."