Softball Cruises into Postseason With Sweep of Dartmouth

As high-school seniors finish up their springs, the Harvard softball team found itself in a similar situation—like these 12th-graders, the team showed up, but the outcome didn’t matter too much.

After clinching a playoff berth on Saturday at home against Dartmouth (14-27, 11-9 Ivy), the Crimson (25-20, 17-3) played two contests in Hanover yesterday in games that had little consequence for either team.

In the first game, the Crimson took the lead in the third inning and never looked back, winning by the score of 7-1.

The nightcap looked to be just the opposite—after falling behind early, Harvard couldn’t plate more than a run for most of the game. But following a number of late-game lead changes, the team held on for the win, 6-5, and completed the doubleheader and weekend sweeps.

“It was a great day,” Crimson coach Jenny Allard said. “We came out strong, we came out with good energy, we came out to build on how we were playing at the end of the year.”

HARVARD 6, DARTMOUTH 5 (8 innings)

For the first six innings, the game was stable. The Big Green jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, and Harvard scored only one run through the sixth.

But from the seventh onward, bats for both teams came alive.

After struggling at the plate for most of the game, the Crimson put four on the board in the top of the seventh to take what looked to be a game-deciding lead change. Sophomore Whitney Shaw hit a two-out two-run home run to give Harvard its first lead of the day.

“I think their pitcher did a good job of spotting her pitches, and we weren’t making some good decisions,” Allard said. “But once we settled in and adjusted to her, we started to get some hits.”

But Dartmouth, whose bats had been equally quiet since a productive first frame, pushed two across the plate in the bottom half on a single and an error from co-captain and pitcher Margaux Black to force the game into extra innings. Both runs came with two outs.

In the first extra inning, the Crimson added another run to take a 6-5 lead. After blowing the save in the seventh, Black held on in her second chance, and Harvard managed to maintain its second lead of the game for the win.

Sophomore Rachel Brown—the staff’s No. 1 starter—settled down after giving up three runs in the first. She pitched three scoreless innings after a rough start before Black came in for the fifth.

“It’s kind of tough when you’re throwing no-hitters all the time and usually striking out batters,” Black said. “[Brown] had a tough first inning, but she really settled in and found her pitches.”

HARVARD 7, DARTMOUTH 1

Even coming off of a doubleheader which clinched the division, the Crimson’s performance waned little in a first-game blowout victory over Dartmouth.

The lineup looked different than it has during other games this season, but many of the team’s regulars still started and contributed.

Junior Ellen Macadam, in the leadoff spot, reached base four times, going 3-for-4 with a home run. Shaw went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs batting third.

Harvard blew the game open in the third and fourth innings, leading by six going into the bottom half of the fourth. A three-run home run from senior Jennifer Francis in the top of the third—her fifth of the year—proved to be enough offense in the first game of the afternoon.

The Crimson chased Big Green starter Hillary Barker with two outs in the fifth. She was charged with seven runs in the game, all earned despite two Dartmouth errors.

Sophomore Julia Moore—making her 12th start of the year—pitched a complete game for Harvard, throwing five scoreless innings before giving up a home run to Big Green catcher Leigha Clarkson in the sixth. She allowed five hits and two walks to go with four strikeouts.

“I thought we had a great performance today and a very good start in the first game from Julia Moore,” Allard said. “We wanted to have a fresh arm throw Game 3 [of the weekend series].”

With the win, Moore improved to 5-4 to end the regular season.

“It was awesome, to come down to Dartmouth [and] to beat them,” Black said. “Awesome, awesome feeling.”

—Staff writer E. Benjamin Samuels can be reached at samuels@college.harvard.edu.