TO SAY THE LEIST: Historic Season in the Making for Brown

Spring has officially begun, at least in my book. It happened a day late this year, in the moment that first Josh Beckett fastball hit the leather of Jason Varitek’s glove. And yes, I was that girl in section not-so-discreetly refreshing Gameday.

My name is Kate, and I’m a Red Sox-aholic.

The period from October to April is a dark one for us Bostonians, especially when Tom Brady busts his knee in the first quarter of the season. But this year, between glowering at Mark Teixeira and religiously following the blogs from spring training, I finally found an appropriate distraction.

It involves a smaller diamond, a big yellow ball, and some underhand pitching. Yes, covering the Harvard softball team has become my antidote to the Pre-BoSox Blues.

Everybody knew the Crimson would be good this season. Returning eight of nine position starters from a team that made it to the Ivy League Championship Series will give you a little bit of preseason notoriety.

But the funny thing is, it’s not the veterans who have powered the team to a solid 19-9 record and second place in the Ivy League North entering divisional play this weekend.

What’s most exciting about Harvard’s squad is the incredible performance of rookie hurler Rachel Brown.

Brown hasn’t just plugged the hole the Crimson had in the circle this season after the departure of ace Shelly Madick ’08. More than halfway through the season, she’s carrying the team, and is well on her way to one of the finest rookie seasons Harvard has seen in recent history—in any sport.

From day one, Brown has pitched like the seasoned ace of the staff, to the tune of a 1.22 ERA and an 11-3 record with three saves, 11 complete games, and 146 strikeouts in 97.2 innings pitched.

This past weekend, in a crucial pair of Ancient Eight doubleheaders, Brown pitched an astounding 20.1 out of the team’s 28 innings, nabbing two saves and two tough-luck losses.



Her one concession after Sunday’s set? “Yeah, I’m pretty dead right now.”

Brown takes control of the game like few Ivy League pitchers can, mainly because of her impressive ability to induce strikeouts. Just 17 appearances into her Crimson career, she already ranks seventh in career strikeouts and 10th in career saves.

Most remarkable? Once she reaches the 100-inning minimum to get on the career list, she will be first in Harvard history with 10.46 strikeouts/7 innings pitched—nearly three strikeouts ahead of current leader Chelsea Thoke ’01. If Brown keeps up this pace, she could finish her career with close to 1000 strikeouts, which would absolutely shatter Thoke’s record of 557.

If the season ended today, Brown would rank first in the single-season record books in opponent batting average (.173), walks allowed/7 innings pitched (0.26), and strikeouts/7 innings pitched, as well as second in ERA. In short, she’s well on her way to arguably the greatest season ever produced by a Crimson pitcher.

And she’s just getting started.

Unsurprisingly, she’s already been honored twice as Ivy League Pitcher of the Week and twice as Rookie of the Week. She also made the League Honor Roll in the one week she didn’t take home an award.

Compare this performance to that of Harvard’s recent female Ivy Rookies of the Year and it’s clear just how notable Brown’s season has been.

Soccer’s Melanie Baskind, volleyball’s Anne Carroll Ingersoll, and basketball’s Brogan Berry were all honored by the league for their performances this year.

Each turned in an impressive rookie season, but none of the three could definitively claim to be the best player on her team. And only Berry was asked to take on even close to the same role of controlling the game that Brown faces every time she steps into the circle.

One missed pitch can cost you the game in softball, particularly when you don’t have the bats working behind you—a position Brown has found herself in all too often this year.

In her four Ivy League starts, the Crimson has scored just four runs, three of them coming against Penn.

Last weekend against Cornell and Princeton, Harvard didn’t score a single run in either of Brown’s starts, saddling her with a pair of losses despite the fact that she allowed just four runs in two complete games (while striking out 17).

If the Crimson plans to make a run at the Ivy Championship, it’s going to have to step up its offensive production and find a little bit more consistency at the plate.

With Yale coming to town this weekend for the beginning of Ivy League North divisional play, Harvard’s bats need to get hot—and soon.

Veteran leadership was touted as the strength of this edition of the Crimson, and it’s time for those old pros to step up and start giving Brown the run support her performance deserves. She’s already proved she can pitch under pressure, but wouldn’t it be nice to let her have a little fun on the mound?

This weekend, my beloved Red Sox are making the trip to Los Angeles to take on the Angels. And while I’ll still undoubtedly pull up Gameday every night, by day I’ll be making the trek to a different diamond, anxious to see just how far a rookie ace can take her team.

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.