Harvard Drops Season Finale to Terriers

The ups and downs of yesterday’s season-ending 3-2 loss to Boston University (36-15) at the BU Softball Field perfectly mirrored the highs and lows the Harvard softball team has experienced throughout the season.

The Crimson (27-17, 11-9 Ivy League) started off its 2009 campaign on a strong note with tournament wins at the Miken Classic and Highlander Classic, but in the end, suffered tough home sweeps to Yale and Dartmouth that derailed its quest for a third consecutive Ivy North title.

In a similar trajectory, Harvard scored first yesterday but relinquished its lead in the bottom of the third. And while the Crimson looked to rally in the later innings—it narrowed the Terriers’ lead in the fifth and was primed to regain the lead in the sixth—things just didn’t fall Harvard’s way as the team came up just short in its effort to close out its season with a win.

“It was a good game,” co-captain Bailey Vertovez said. “We hit the ball really well but we hit it right at people. We didn’t have any errors and they didn’t have any errors. They got the key hits when they needed them.”

“I thought we came out really relaxed and really loose,” freshman Whitney Shaw added. “We came out on pace with BU. It was a very complete and well-played game and it was overall a great effort.”

Freshman Rachel Brown started and finished on the mound for the Crimson. While the rookie allowed three runs on six hits, she also had eight strikeouts to improve her own all-time Harvard record to 211 K’s in a single season.

“I love pitching for this team,” Brown said. “I certainly didn’t expect to get this much time my freshman year so I appreciate the opportunity to help out this team any way I could.”

Co-captain Hayley Bock anchored the Crimson’s offensive efforts against its cross-town rivals in her last appearance in a Harvard uniform with a home run and two scores.

“[Bock] had a great game today,” Shaw said. “She had this intensity that she came out with—she just wanted to leave it all out on the field. Overall, she’s just been a force. She always leads by example and she has such a presence at bat and behind the plate.”

Bock got the action going at the top of the second by blasting the day’s only homer—the fourth of her season and 11th of her career—to right-center to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead.

BU overtook Harvard on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third with two scores of its own. With runners on first and second, the Terriers’ Melissa Dubay pounded a triple to right field that landed just inside the foul line. The Crimson avoided further trouble with two consecutive outs at third and second.

But, BU furthered its lead in the next inning when Rachel Hebert singled to score teammate Emily Roesch, who had advanced to third on a passed ball. With two outs already, catcher Bock threw to Vertovez at short, catching Hebert trying to steal and ending the frame.

Harvard was able to close the gap in the fifth. Once again, it was Bock that sparked the Crimson offense with a single up the middle. She was able to advance to second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Jane Alexander before rookie Mari Zumbro scored Bock with a double to right center to make the score 3-2.

“This team fights,” Vertovez said. “We didn’t want to lose our last game out there and we were going to try as hard as we could. Even those last innings with two outs, we wanted to win that last game.”

Harvard looked to carry its offensive momentum into the sixth as sophomore Ellen Macadam and Shaw led off with consecutive singles. With Macadam on third and after junior Margaux Black, who pinch ran for Shaw, stole second, the Crimson looked to be in the perfect position to take the lead as Bock came up to bat.

Unfortunately for Harvard, Terriers third-baseman Brooke Hudson snagged Bock’s line drive to end the inning and effectively, the Crimson’s season.

“If [the hit] had been a foot taller or a foot lower—basically anywhere besides in the girl’s glove—we would have gotten runs,” Shaw said. “We were hitting the ball hard today; things just didn’t happen to fall our way but that’s just the way the game goes.”

Despite the bad bounces and the unlucky hits, Harvard ultimately ended its 2009 campaign with a winning record. While there were tough times—particularly this weekend’s home sweep by Dartmouth—the Crimson’s ability to rebound and correct its mistakes indicate that this season will likely go down as one of positive rebuilding for Harvard.

“I’ve loved every second of [this season] and I’ve had a great year,” Vertovez said. “We started off really strong but we had our ups and downs as any season will. It’s tough to lose the way that we did in the last game and we all would have liked to go further.”

—Staff writer Lucy D. Chen can be reached at lucychen@fas.harvard.edu.