Comeback Falls Short At Home

After 16 games in Florida and California and a rained-out double-header against Bryant University earlier in the week, the Harvard softball team (4-13) finally had its home opener against Boston University (11-10).

The Crimson probably wish this one was rained out, too.

The Terriers scored 11 runs—although not without some controversy—in the top of the first on three Harvard pitchers and never looked back on the way to a 14-8 victory at Soldiers Field yesterday afternoon.

Freshman Jess Ferri started the game for the Crimson. A lead-off single, error, three walks, double, and home run later, Ferri was pulled in favor of co-captain Margaux Black.

Harvard was down, 6-0, before recording its first out of the game. Then things starting getting weird.

Black was called for six illegal pitches—including the first two she threw—for a failure to drag her pivot foot during the pitch. The penalty for an illegal pitch in softball grants any runner on base to take the next base.

At one point, after BU’s Whitney Tuthill reached on an error, Tuthill scored after three consecutive illegal pitches. Black was eventually pulled after Rachel Hebert singled and advanced to second on an error, scoring a Terrier who was on second due to—you guessed it—another illegal pitch.

“[The umpire] wasn’t going to give up on it. He called it and called it and called it,” Black said. “It’s hard because I’ve been pitching for fourteen years now and never been called for an illegal pitch and to change something you’re not even necessarily doing wrong, that’s hard.”

The Crimson had no choice but to bring in sophomore pitcher Julia Moore, who advanced Hebert to third on her first pitch of the outing, yet another called illegal pitch. After walking the next batter, Hebert scored on a illegal pitch, and an illegal pitch right after that moved the runner to second.

Moore, clearly rattled by the umpire, walked the following batter and hit the next to load the bases—placing Harvard down 10-0 and still with no outs.

Coach Jenny Allard then decided to bring Ferri back in to try to close out the first.

After giving up an RBI single, Ferri settled down and retired the next three batters to end the top of the first inning and the 45 minutes of drama that came with it.

“Margaux Black had never been called for an illegal pitch in the three years of her career before this game,” Allard said. “The umpire had made a complete mockery of the game by the time Moore was called for her illegal pitches. Jess Ferri did not give us a good start…but the next few runs were just a joke. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

After BU knocked in two more runs in the second, the Crimson looked lifeless. A squad that prides itself on its defense and pitching had given up 13 runs, committed four errors, walked eight batters, and thrown nine illegal pitches.

Harvard remained determined at the plate, though, scoring six runs on six hits in the third—including a three-run jack by senior Jennifer Francis.

And in the fourth inning it was the Crimson who was able to take advantage of the illegal pitches.

Sophomore Jane Alexander was hit by a pitch and then advanced to second on an illegal pitch. Francis followed with her fourth RBI of the game, a single that brought Alexander home and narrowed the deficit to only five runs heading into the fifth inning, 13-8.

“We’ve really been trying to focus on our at-bats,” Allard said. “They buckled down and really stayed focused. We really earned those runs and it was great to see.”

Although hard to imagine, the last three innings turned out to be a pitchers’ duel. The Crimson’s sophomore Rachel Brown hurled four innings in relief, limiting the Terriers to only a single run on three hits. Boston University was able to counter with Megan Currier, who gave up only a single in the last three innings to ice the victory for the Terriers.

—Staff writer Colin Whelehan can be reached at whelehan@fas.harvard.edu.