AOTW: Ending a Collegiate Career with a Bang

Most players would like to end their collegiate careers with a bang. But with four?

Senior softball player Lauren Stefanchik did just that on Friday afternoon when she went 4-for-4 in Game 2 of Harvard’s twinbill against Columbia. With the last of her Crimson career in sight, Stefanchik ended the day with six hits over seven at-bats.

During the second game, which Harvard won 12-4, Stefanchik’s bat was unstoppable. She got the Crimson’s offense started with a bunt single and then stole second. In the third inning, she picked up another single and was able to score when freshman Danielle Kerper hit a fielder’s choice.

Stefanchik hit a line drive up the middle in the fifth inning. Again Kerper drove her home, this time for the game-winning run under the mercy rule.

Before the games against Columbia, Stefanchik tried to forget that it was her home finale. Instead, she focused on doing well against some familiar competition: Lions hurler Jackie Adelfio.

“I had faced that pitcher in high school,” she said. “I had done well against her then, so I wanted to continue that.”

Stefanchik had no problem hitting the ball and finished the first game going 2-for-3. The Crimson’s two victories against Columbia were the perfect way to leave Soldiers Field for the season—and forever, for the seniors.

“We felt really good ending on that note,” Stefanchik said.

The following day, the team split a doubleheader against Dartmouth. After stealing two bases against the Lions, Stefanchik was caught stealing in the third inning of the first game—her first failed attempt all season. She ended the season with a 16-for-17 steal record.

Stefanchik was the only Crimson player with a multi-hit outing in the first contest against the Big Green, going 2-for-4. She scored once in a rain-soaked 9-2 loss.

The Crimson wanted to end its season with a win, and in the second game, Harvard fought back to get one.

“Stefanchik placed her hits strategically,” Kerper said.

The senior’s last at-bat in the final inning of Game 2 was the perfect example of her smart offensive approach.

“It definitely hit me that it was my last game ever in the last inning, at my last at-bat,” she said. “I was on deck with a runner on third, and I just thought to myself how much I would like to cap it all off with a hit and an RBI, and it happened.”

She slapped the ball through the infield for an RBI single. The Crimson’s lead grew to 2-0, and it wouldn’t change.

Unlike the last game of her high school softball career, which was “miserable” because Stefanchik’s team lost a championship game, the finale of her collegiate career pleased the senior.

“We didn’t win a title or anything, but I felt like we had some closure,” she said. “It felt good winning.”

—ELYSE N. HANSON