Columbia, Cornell Make For Tough Ivy-Opening Weekend For Softball

Only one senior on the Harvard softball team knows what it feels like to make an NCAA tournament. Every other Crimson veteran has known only the frustration of having her hopes dashed by Cornell, tomorrow’s opponent, weather permitting .

Though this is just Harvard’s first Ivy weekend, Cornell (16-4, 1-1 Ivy) and Sunday’s opponent Columbia (9-13, 1-1) are the toughest consecutive foes the Crimson will face during the Ivy season. Over the past two years, Cornell is 4-3 against Harvard and Columbia is 2-5. Only defending Ivy champion Princeton has caused the Crimson a comparable amount of trouble during that stretch.

While none of the teams playing can be officially eliminated from the Ivy race this weekend, they can devastate each other’s title hopes. Since each team only plays each other in one doubleheader, there is little margin for error in the Ivy race.

“If you have your first weekend and you go 2-2 or [1-3] there’s a good chance you won’t have a shot,” said Harvard coach Jenny Allard. “Whereas in baseball, you could lose three games in the first weekend, and still have a shot. Our schedule doesn’t lend itself to a bad weekend.”

This weekend will feature the three most heralded pitchers left in the league from last season—Cornell’s First Team All-Ivy junior Sarah Sterman, Columbia’s Second Team senior Allison Buehler and Harvard’s Second Team junior Kara Brotemarkle.

Cornell and Columbia split their Ivy opening doubleheader last weekend with Sterman winning the duel of aces in the first game. Each pitcher came back in relief in the second game with Buehler getting the upper hand.

Harvard has had mixed results against Sterman in recent seasons. Sterman carried Cornell to a 5-1 victory in her last Ivy appearance against Harvard, but the Crimson topped her 4-3 in extra innings during the ECAC tournament.

Buehler has been in the circle for both of the two Columbia wins over Harvard, but the Crimson triumphed over her in three of four meetings last season.

A more crucial storyline than the aces might be how the freshman No. 2 starters perform—Cornell’s Whitney Smith, Columbia’s Jackie Adelphio and Harvard’s Michelle McAteer. Adelphio had the most effective debut, giving up just one run in five innings despite allowing 11 baserunners. McAteer has yet to be tested in Ivy play, but she has shown promise in nonleague play this season.

While Harvard (5-17) has had the Ivies’ most dominant offense in recent seasons, the bats have been much more silent so far against the Crimson’s tough nonconference opposition. Only sophomore catcher Laura Miller and tri-captain Tiffany Whitton are hitting above .300 among regular starters.

“In order for this team to have a good start we need to believe in one another and swing our bats,” Whitton said last week.

Cornell, led by First Team All-Ivy hitters Kate Varde and Laura May, have posted the best offensive numbers in the league thus far against weaker nonconference competition. Nevertheless, the Big Red struggled to put runs across against Columbia’s pitching.

Harvard’s pitching will hope to stifle Cornell in similar fashion. Though there is a huge disparity between the two team’s records right now, the current situation is similar to 2000 when Harvard last made NCAAs. That year the Crimson beat Cornell 1-0 in the Ivy opener and went on to post one of its most dominant Ivy seasons, while the Big Red never recovered. This year’s games will provide another test to see whether Harvard’s tougher schedule has provided superior preparation.

For Harvard to get that chance, however, the weather will have to cooperate. Latest forecasts indicate a 40 percent chance for showers tomorrow. Both doubleheaders begin at noon.

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.