Softball Takes Two in Home Opener

With the score tied in the bottom of the seventh inning, two runners in scoring position, and the sun setting in the distance, the situation was primed for a dramatic game-ending hit.

Instead, the Crimson won the nightcap on a wild pitch.

It was that kind of day for Harvard (5-9) as it swept a doubleheader over Rhode Island (2-20) in its home opener at Soldiers Field.

A combination of timely hitting, clutch pitching, and a few lucky bounces carried the Crimson past the Rams in the team’s final tune-up before the Ivy League slate kicks off this weekend.

The pair of wins also helped to erase memories of a lackluster spring break and to solidify a lineup that had suffered recently from injuries.

HARVARD 5, RHODE ISLAND 4

Senior Lauren Stefanchik scooted home with the winning run in the last half of the seventh inning, capitalizing on a wild pitch by Rhode Island pitcher Jill Anderson.

Stefanchik led off the frame with a sharp single up the middle and moved to second on a bunt single by sophomore Julia Kidder. After both runners moved into scoring position on a sacrifice from catcher Annie Dell’Aria, Anderson’s erratic aim and a fortunate hop away from the catcher proved the difference.

“I was getting kind of antsy on third,” Stefanchik said. “She was a little wild and I was just ready to score and get the win.”

“I kept saying to the runner at third ‘She’s throwing low, stay ready’,” Harvard head coach Jenny Allard said. “We were hoping for a big hit to end it but you have to stay ready for anything.”

Before the wild pitch, the Crimson had failed to take advantage of multiple chances to take the lead in the fifth and the sixth innings, preserving a stalemate that endured since the action-packed fourth ended with the score knotted at 4.

In the top of that inning, Rhode Island chased freshman starter Amanda Watkins from the circle, rapping out three straight hits to tie the game at 1 before Watkins could get an out.

Junior Michele McAteer, returning to action from a bout with tendinitis, couldn’t stem the tide, retiring two hitters before Chelsea Wolfe smacked a two-run blast over the left field wall.

Facing a 4-1 deficit, Harvard stayed confident and promptly delivered a two-out rally to tie the score.

“We hung in there,” Allard said. “There was a feeling in the dugout. Confidence never swayed and we knew we would fight back and get them.”

Junior third baseman Erin Halpenny pounded a double down the left-field line to plate senior Beth Sabin—who had reached on a double of her own—and sophomore Lauren Brown. Brown had to fashion a nifty hook slide to evade the tag at the plate.

Center fielder Kerry Flaherty then drove in Halpenny with a single to even the contest.

Sophomore Becky Voaklander came out of the bullpen to provide crucial relief work down the stretch, holding the Rams to one hit and no runs over three innings.

“She has been a great closer for us,” Allard said. “Becky’s someone we have a lot of confidence in to come in and shut down a team.”

The Crimson took an early 1-0 lead on a manufactured run in the first. Stefanchik—who went 3-for-4 for the game and 4-for-6 on the afternoon—led off with a single and moved station to station on a stolen base, sacrifice, and an error.

HARVARD 4, RHODE ISLAND 1

Freshman hurler Shelly Madick tossed a complete-game five-hitter and the bats ignited during a three-run fourth inning to give the Crimson a crisp 4-1 win in the opening game of the afternoon twinbill.

Madick rebounded from a shaky first inning and only surrendered one hit over the final six frames, retiring 19 of 21 in the process. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of her performance, however, was Madick’s 12 strikeouts, far surpassing her previous season total of nine.

Madick persevered after allowing hits to four of the game’s first five batters and digging Harvard an early one-run hole. She was bailed out in part by Rhode Island’s sloppy base-running when the Crimson nabbed a runner making too wide a turn at third base and couldn’t get back to the bag in time.

“She was great,” Allard said of Madick. “She settled down after the first inning. She got stronger and more effective and built momentum as the game went on.”

Harvard tied the score on an RBI double by Dell’Aria in the third and surged ahead with a three-spot in the fourth.

The big blow came off the bat off freshman Danielle Kerper, pinch-hitting for Stefanchik in the leadoff spot. She drove a double into the gap in left-center, scoring junior Pilar Adams and Brown.

Sophomore Julia Kidder followed that with a sacrifice fly to left to bring home Flaherty and seal the eventual winning margin.

The Crimson will welcome Brown and Yale to Soldiers Field this weekend for its Ivy openers.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.