America East Leaders Can’t Stop Crimson

The Ivy League North Division softball champions versus the leading team in America East. With two teams so accustomed to victory, it was a game destined to be a close affair.

In yesterday’s highly-anticipated non-league contest at Soldiers Field, Harvard (22-18, 12-4 Ivy) prevailed over local rivals Boston University (26-17) in a slender 1-0 victory.

“I thought we played very poised and very competitive—it was a good game,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “BU’s a great team and we got [the win] tough.”

Showing no signs of complacency after winning the Ancient Eight North Division the previous weekend, the Crimson started brightly against its opponents.

“I thought we came out really crisp today,” said captain and pitcher Shelley Madick. “Now that we know we have clinched the division, we were really looking to sharpen our game up and fine-tine things before we head into the championship next weekend.

“I think that we all came out ready to play and BU’s always a strong opponent.”

In order to tame the Terriers, it was always going to require a strong performance from the Crimson. Harvard had recorded three shutouts in its previous four contests, and yesterday was a continuation of the Crimson’s impressive form on defense. The necessary offense can when sophomore Lauren Murphy singled home junior Bailey Vertovez in the fifth inning for the lone run separating the sides.

“We knew [BU] would be good hitters—we had to hit our spots and mix our speeds,” Allard said. “We knew we had to have a good pitching performance, play great defence, and hopefully get some timely hits, and Lauren stepped up big.”

In the winning rally, Vertovez singled into left field, leading off the bottom of the fifth inning, moving up a base on a ground ball by freshman Emily Henderson—who also set a new Harvard steals record with her 26th of the season. With the stage set for Murphy, she didn’t disappoint. With her second hit of the day, the ball evaded the Terriers’ third baseman and shortstop, driving home the winner.

From a defensive perspective, Harvard relied on stellar pitching performances from Madick and sophomore Dana Roberts. The pair combined for a four-hit shutout for the Crimson. After Madick pitched into the fifth inning, Roberts seamlessly replaced her, allowing only two of the 11 BU batters she faced to reach base.

“I really like 1-0 games—they’re my favorite kind of games,” Madick said. “I think it was really good that we stayed on them, we scored late even though we were disappointed that we didn’t score early. I really liked that when I came out, Dana came right in and got three outs.”

“We had a great combined pitching performance from Shelley and Dana,” Allard said. “They combined for a shutout against a very good hitting team.”

Madick credited her victory to a change in strategy, with an inconsistent element of her game finally clicking.

“I’ve been working on my curveball—it hasn’t been there the last couple of games, and so I just warmed that up a lot at stretch, and it was working today,” she said.

Despite the gritty nature of the win, Allard stressed there were still areas for improvement.

“I think in the middle innings we lulled offensively—we could have stayed a little more aggressive at the plate and got a few more key hits, but we did it in the end,” Allard said. “[We need] just more enthusiasm in the middle innings, just trying to generate more offense and score a run earlier.”

The win may have underlined Harvard’s credentials prior to the Ivy League Championship Series, but there was another motive to beat its local rivals.

“We definitely all came in today hoping to get a win for [Coach Allard] on her birthday, and just kept that in mind during the game,” Madick said.

Madick believes the win shows the Crimson’s resilience.

“I think that we can play tight defense and win those close games and can play a very composed ball against a very good team,” she said.