Softball Stays Perfect In Ivy League Play

The Harvard softball team finally got the chance this weekend to prove its Ivy League dominance.

The Crimson made up a doubleheader against Princeton at home on Sunday, and played single games against Yale and Penn at New Haven on Saturday. Without any bad weather to stop Harvard this time, the Crimson opponents were mercifully dispatched one by one.

On the weekend, Harvard (16-18, 9-0 Ivy) twice forced the invocation of the eight-run mercy rule, winning 9-1against Penn (13-28-1, 2-8) and in the second Princeton (19-25, 6-6) game. Yale (19-23-1, 5-7) was no match either, as the Crimson won convincingly 9-3. The only reasonable challenge came in the first Princeton game, when Harvard overcame an early deficit to win 6-2.

The Harvard offensive surge on the weekend was led by junior Mairead McKendry, who went 8-for-12 with a home run and seven RBIs, and freshman Tiffany Whitton, who hit 6-for-13 and scored seven times.

The Crimson has now scored at least nine runs in six of its nine Ivy games, and has outscored its Ivy opponents by a combined total of 71-20.

With the four victories, Harvard shored up its spot on the top of the Ivy standings. Dartmouth (25-11, 6-2) is the only team still mathematically alive in the race. Even a split of Thursday's doubleheader against the Big Green would give the Crimson its second Ivy title in three years and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Harvard 9, Princeton 1

The game was essentially over in the bottom of the first when Whitton, the leadoff hitter, greeted Princeton pitcher Dana Freiser by sending a 2-1 pitch into the bushes behind the left-field fence.

"The home run in the first inning set the tone for the rest of game," Harvard Coach Jenny Allard said. "That was pretty much all we needed."

It was the first home run of Whitton's career.

"I've never hit before in a game," Whitton said. "I always move my feet in the box and my coach is like, 'You're never going to hit one out.' But the wind was blowing and it helped, so I just went with it."

The leadoff home run ignited the Crimson bats, as senior Ghia Godfree and McKendry both hit sharp singles later in the inning. McKendry's hit ricocheted off Tiger infielder Lauren Poniatowski, similar to the first game when she took out pitcher Brie Galicinao with a line drive.

The Tiger defense was awful throughout the day. With two outs in the first, sophomore Cherry Fu put Harvard up 2-0 with a shallow fly to center which fell in between two Princeton fielders.

Senior Crystal Springer followed up with a pop fly to second that should have ended the inning. But the Tigers dropped the ball, and with McKendry and Fu running all the way with two outs, the lead was stretched to 4-0.

In the bottom of the second, the Crimson added another run when senior Deborah Abeles, the defending Ivy batting champion, crushed a Fresier pitch into deep left field to drive in Whitton from first.

With junior Chelsea Thoke on target all day, the Tigers had no chance to come back. Thoke shut out Princeton over four innings, giving up just one hit while striking out three.

Harvard ended the game in the bottom of the fifth, with a little help from the Princeton defense.

McKendry led off the inning with her second double of the day. After sophomore Sarah Koppel moved her to third with a single, the Princeton defense chose to throw home on a grounder by Springer.

The throw beat McKendry to the plate, but she made a perfect slide away from the tag of Princeton catcher Vicki Siesta. That stretched the lead to 6-1.

Harvard scored the final three runs on Princeton errors. Senior Jessie Amberg popped the ball to short, where the ball was dropped, then thrown past the first the baseman. Two more Harvard runs scored.

For the final insult, Godfree hit a short ground ball in front of the plate with the bases loaded. While freshman Monica Montijo was forced out at home, Siesta sent the ball past the first baseman into right field while going for the double play. Amberg came around to score, and the game was over.

"They struggled [defensively]," Allard said. "We hit the ball enough to win, but they definitely helped us."

Harvard 6, Princeton 2

For the first three innings, the Tigers were in control.

Whitton, making her first start for the Crimson in weeks, was struggling in the first inning. With one run already in and the bases loaded with one out, Princeton could have opened the game with a back-breaking rally.

But Whitton settled down and pitched out of the jam. Princeton's Kim Veenstra lined a shallow fly to left, and freshman Grace Bloodwell made a great diving catch. Then, in a crucial at-bat, Tiger Sarah Jane White fouled off four straight 1-2 pitches before Whitton finally got her with a called third strike.

"I was really nervous," Whitton said. "It was my first start in a while."

Although Princeton wasted the opportunity to put Harvard away, the 1-0 deficit looked unbeatable with Princeton's Brie Galicinao on the mound. She pitched three perfect innings with four strikeouts to start the game.

"Their pitcher was a little faster than what we've seen so far," Allard said. "We just needed some time to get adjusted. But we came through."

In the fourth, Whitton finally proved that Galicinao could be beaten. She led off the inning with a deep left-field double. That started the Harvard bats.

"She was quick," Whitton said. "I just jammed her, waited for an outside pitch, and just went with it."

Four straight batters -McKendry, Koppel, Fu, and Springer - hit singles off of Galicinao after Godfree and Abeles were unable to bring Whitton home. When the dust settled, Harvard was leading 3-1.

Princeton scored a run in the top of the fifth to cut the Crimson lead to one, but by then Harvard had no trouble getting a few insurance runs. Galicinao was rattled by the fifth. Five of the six batters that she faced reached base, and the lead was extended to 6-2. A line drive by McKendry that deflected off of her arm finally took Galicinao out of the game.

Whitton, meanwhile, went the distance for the win. Through seven innings, she gave up just three hits, two runs, and four walks, while striking out six.

The win meant a lot to Whitton, since she was once a top Princeton recruit.

"I really wanted to beat Princeton, because the coach and I don't get along too well," Whitton said. "It's kind of a little personal vendetta."

Luckily for Harvard, Whitton will have to chance to frustrate Princeton coach Cindy Cohen for three more years.

Harvard 9, Yale 3

This game at first looked like it would be a pitcher's duel, with Harvard sophomore Suzanne Guy and Yale's Tori Hickey pitching shutout ball for two innings.

It looked like more of the same in the third, when Hickey retired the first two batters. But then Hickey was suddenly unable to retire a single Crimson batter.

Once Whitton rattled Hickey with a double, six straight Harvard batters reached. When the inning ended, Harvard led 4-0.

Harvard put together another four-run rally in the top of the fifth, highlighted by RBI doubles from Koppel and Springer.

The Harvard hitting was spread around evenly, with each Crimson starter earning a hit. McKendry, Koppel, Fu, and Springer each had two hits in the nine-run, 14-hit outburst.

After Guy was pulled to start the fourth, Whitton came in and earned the win in relief. Whitton went four innings, gave up one hit, zero earned runs, and struck out six, while just walking two.

Harvard 9, Penn 1

Although it took a whole week and three postponements for the Crimson to finish its doubleheader against Penn, the result was the same.

Just as in the first game, McKendry hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth. This time her shot put Harvard up 9-1, and ended the game due to the mercy rule.

The game was effectively over way before that. Just as in every other game this weekend, Whitton started off a Harvard rally with an extra-base hit. Her double in the first inning, combined with singles from Koppel and Fu, as well as a Quaker error put the Crimson up 2-0.

In the third, Harvard put together a three-run rally, highlighted by a two-run double by Montijo.

That was more than enough offense to sustain Thoke. She went five innings, gave up one earned run, and struck out three to earn the win.