Softball Wins Home Opener vs. Vermont

Going into the weekend, the Harvard softball team had Georgia on its mind.

Having spent the previous week in Columbus, Ga., competing in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Leadoff Classic against Top 25 teams with unspectacular results, the Crimson got the opportunity Saturday to tack a win on to its record against Vermont.

It did just that, getting its first win of the season, 8-3, over the overmatched Catamounts (0-1). Harvard (1-5) used timely hitting and solid defense to propel itself to victory in its first home game of the year.

With sophomore righthander Suzanne Guy in the circle, the Crimson held Vermont scoreless in the first two innings. Offensively, Harvard struck quickly in the first, scoring two runs on sophomore utility infielder Cherry Fu's double off Vermont pitcher Cheri Toms. Both runners were given bases on balls.

The Catamounts pulled even in the third inning on left fielder Amanda Surgen's two-run single. That would be Vermont's last productive inning.

After a groundout to lead off the bottom of the third, senior shortstop Deborah Abeles nailed a Toms pitch over the left-center wall for a solo homer to give the Crimson a 3-2 lead. Junior catcher Mairead McKendry then reached on an error. Two minutes later, Fu connected again, this time putting the ball just over the fence. The lead was 5-2 and Harvard was never in trouble again.

"This was just one of those days when you hit the ball and it goes to the right spots," Abeles said.

Guy was equally impressive. In the fourth, Vermont got three singles to load the bases. However, Guy struck out the side to take away Vermont's best chance to score. She finished with a complete game, giving up ten hits and striking out seven.

The Crimson added two more on McKendry's two-run home run in the fourth, for a 7-2 lead. Harvard got its last run when Abeles scored on Fu's single in the sixth.

The offense was a definite improvement from last week's Georgia outing. This time, the middle of the order showed off its power and ability to get hits with runners on base. The defense complemented Guy's strong performance, knocking down a lot of balls in the infield and saving extra-base hits.

"Of course, there was a considerable difference in competition," Abeles said.

Abeles and Fu were the big hitters on the afternoon, with Abeles going a perfect 2-for-2 and Fu going 4-for-4 with five RBI's. Abeles also scored four runs.

The game was Harvard's first home game and will be the only one until mid-April, since the Crimson travel around the better part of the East coast until then.

The second game of the doubleheader was cancelled due to inclement weather.

"It was nice to just come back to our field and play so well in this bad weather," Abeles said. "It was good we got to play some situational defense with runners on base, because that's the kind of practice we'll need for Ivy League games."

Harvard returns to the diamond next Sunday against St. John's in New York City.