Bats Fall Silent, Pitching Falters in Season-Ending Loss

In its final contest of the season, the Harvard softball team was shut out by Boston College on Friday. Despite the 6-0 score, Harvard refused to go out silently, as the humid air rang with an a capella rendition of “The Hey Song” that carried the team’s spirits, if not the offense.

Originally scheduled as a Thursday afternoon doubleheader, the game was rescheduled due to inadequate field conditions.

The contest was scoreless until the third inning, when the Eagles jumped on senior hurler Michele McAteer, compiling two runs on four hits before the first out was recorded. Boston College started the inning with a double into right field, triggering a series of singles and doubles.

McAteer was relieved by sophomore Amanda Watkins after two innings of work. But even the pitching change failed to halt the Eagle onslaught. Boston College quickly doubled the score on a two-bagger.

Watkins then prompted a groundball to shortstop to retire the first batter of the inning. The Eagles touched home one more time before junior Julia Kidder started an impressive tag-em-out, throw-em-out double play.

Watkins returned for a 1-2-3 fourth, helped by the second of three double plays on the day.

Watkins again faced trouble in the sixth. Despite turning a double play, The Crimson could not close the inning before Boston College scored its sixth and final run.

The Harvard offense tried to capitalize in the second half of the inning. Senior Pilar Adams stretched a bloop single into a double after fellow senior Erin Halpenny earned a walk. Freshman Bailey Vertovez nearly cleared the bases on a far-flying line-drive just foul of the third base line. Ultimately, Vertovez could not convert and was caught looking at the inning’s final strike.

The Crimson offense again looked promising in the bottom of the fifth when sophomore Danielle Kerper took first on a third-strike passed ball by Boston College catcher Ashley Obrest.

Watkins pitched the remainder of the game. giving up a total of two runs and six hits.

McAteer, who allowed four runs on five hits, did not allow the loss to cast a shadow on Harvard’s season.

“I had a great time,” McAteer said. “I have no clue what I’ll do without softball. I’ll miss the friends. [The game] was fun. It was a fun day.”

McAteer and the Crimson’s four other senior players, Halpenny, Adams, Cara Woodward and Rachel Murray, were all honored in a pre-game ceremony.

Walking off Soldiers Field in a Harvard uniform for the last time, Adams had a positive yet teary-eyed remembrance of her Crimson career.

“It was all fun,” Adams said. “You can’t ask for a better group of girls. Our record was a little disappointing but I don’t think our record conveys how much we learned. We had some really great wins.”

—Staff writer Courtney M. Petrouski can be reached at petrousk@fas.harvard.edu.