UMass Ends Softball’s Win Streak

In a tune-up for a big weekend against league-leading Princeton, Harvard dropped both games of a doubleheader against Massachusetts on a wind-swept Soldiers Field.

The Crimson (18-6, 4-0) lost the second game 2-1 in extra innings after dropping the opener 9-3, ending its 10-game winning streak.

Harvard dropped to 0-11-1 all-time against the Minutewomen (30-10), but came about as close to beating UMass in the second game as it ever has before.

UMass 2, Harvard 1 (8 inn.)

Harvard found itself embroiled in a pitchers’ duel with Minutewomen ace Jennifer Hadley, a senior sporting a 0.82 ERA with 69 strikeouts.

“Their pitchers are good,” said Harvard Coach Jenny Allard. “They’re the best we’ve seen. They had good speed, good movement.”

After seven innings of play, the score was still knotted at 1-1. As per international tie-breaking rules, a runner was placed at second to begin the extra frame. A Minutewomen sacrifice bunt back to sophomore Kara Brotemarkle put a runner on third with one out. Freshman Hilary Puglia stepped up for UMass and singled to right to score the go-ahead run.

Down by one in the bottom of the eighth, the Crimson sent junior tri-captain Tiffany Whitton to the plate. Though Whitton is the team RBI leader, Allard gave her the bunt sign, and she executed perfectly, sending then official runner to third.

“Tiff was bunting because we needed to have a runner on third for a shot to win,” Allard explained. “You get a runner on third, you just need a little ground ball, a passed ball, Koppel hits a fly ball, we score. In that situation it’s always a debate what to do. We’ve gone back and forth, sometimes we bunt, sometimes we hit.”

The Crimson’s gamble went UMass’s way, as the Minutewomen got two quick outs to end the contest and give Brotemarkle her second loss. After the game, Allard admitted that if she could do it over again, she would have let Whitton swing away.

Before Crimson starter Suzanne Guy even got to the mound, the Crimson had gotten her a run.

Freshman leadoff extraordinaire Lauren Stefanchik started the rally with an infield single, and promptly stole second. Tri-captain Lisa Watanabe matched Stefanchik’s hit, and the bases were loaded when Whitton was plunked by a Hadley offering.

With no outs, tri-captain Sarah Koppel singled in Stefanchik, but the Crimson rally stopped there. Hadley struck out the next three batters.

The Crimson netted only one run, and lack of aggression was part of the problem.

“I think we could have done better if we had swung our bats,”Allard said. “We struck out looking a lot. We gave them a lot of respect. We need to come to battle more.”

Harvard’s lack of tenacity at the plate did not extend to the mound, as Guy turned in another tough performance, giving up only a third-inning score in four innings of work.

Brotemarkle relieved Guy in the fifth, the same inning in which the Crimson had a golden opportunity to score.

Stefanchik led off with a single, and a Whitton single moved her over. With the table set for the meat of the order, Hadley got Koppel and sophomore Sara Williamson to strike out looking.

In the top of the sixth, Harvard showed its toughness, halting a Minutewomen rally with great defense. After a bloop double to lead off, Brotemarkle got UMass’ top hitter, Teri Rooney, to pop out to left. Brotemarkle’s full count offering to the next batter, the Minutewomen’s home run leader Scooter Wheeler, was lined to right.

Watanabe fielded the ball and threw a rope to get the runner at home—the Crimson’s third successful play at the plate on the day. Then, freshman catcher Laura Miller had the presence of mind to get Wheeler heading for to second for a spectacular 9-2-4 inning-ending double play.

UMass 9, Harvard 3

The nail biter in the second game had no precursor in the first. The Crimson played come-from-behind for most of the game, but gave up six runs after tying the score in the fifth.

“The first game we did not come to play, period,” Allard said. “We had a few bad innings. With a team like UMass they’re going to jump on top of you, they’re going score a lot of runs.”

UMass struck first, scoring three runs in the top of the third off of Whitton. With one out, two Minutewomen reached base, one thanks to an infield single and the other due to a bloop to right. Rooney, 5-for-7 on the day, smacked a double to left to bring in a run.

After a conference on the mound, the Crimson allowed a sacrifice fly to drive in another score. With runners on first and third, Miller threw to second to thwart an attempted steal, but Rooney made a heads up play and scored from third.

Freshman Beth Sabin came in to start the fourth, and immediately got run support. Whitton led off with a single and swiped second. With one out, Miller stepped up and laced a double to the wall to score her captain and narrow the lead to 3-1.

In the fifth, Sabin helped her cause by drawing a lead-off walk. After UMass starter Kaila Holtz struck two players out, sophomore Kim Koral was able to reach base on an infield hit.

Whitton stepped up and quickly fell behind in the count, 0-2. After fouling off six straight pitches, she roped a double to center to knot the score.

The Crimson comeback was checked in the next inning, as the Minutewomen exploded for five runs against Sabin. Though the hit barrage gave Sabin the loss, the outing was not for naught.

“The goal today was to throw everyone. So we got everyone in. We got them innings,” Allard said. “The goal was to win, but the goal was also to prepare for the weekend in terms of our pitching.”

UMass would tack on one more off of freshman Lauren Tanner to make it 9-3 before closing out the game.

The doubleheader was not only preparation for a big Ivy weekend, but a chance to play NCAA-quality competition.

“UMass is a good team,” Whitton said. “They’re usually in the Top 25. We’ve never beaten them, but this is the closest we’ve ever come. We held our own today.”