Harvard Edges Crosstown Rival BU

BOSTON, Mass.—After road trips to Florida and California, Harvard softball may have been spoiled by warmer spring climates over spring break.

The team’s return to Massachusetts was hardly comfortable. Taking on Boston University in their annual cross-river matchup, the teams battled both cold weather and harsh winds at BU Softball Field, and Harvard (9-8) was forced to adjust to softball back in the Northeast.

But it didn’t miss a beat, coming out victorious over the Terriers in a close 2-1 victory yesterday afternoon.

The Crimson was able to jump on BU early after junior infielder Whitney Shaw drove in Stephanie Regan with an infield single.

But though Harvard got eight hits throughout the game, it struggled to put them together after the first, stranding eight runners on base over the course of the afternoon.

“That’s been our struggle and is our focus for the next week and a half and continuing through the season,” Allard said. “We’re hitting the ball well, we’re swinging at good pitches, [and] we’re having quality at bats, but we just need to figure out a lineup that is going to score a ton of runs.”

In the meantime freshman Laura Ricciardone was keeping the Terrier hitters in check.

Ricciardone pitched three scoreless innings before allowing BU to score its only run of the game in the fourth inning. The tying run came when junior Kayla Kruper scored off a ground out by freshman Megan Volpano to bring BU even.  Kruper had pinch ran for teammate Brittany Clendenny, whom Ricciardone had walked.

The Terriers threatened in the third inning and again in the fourth, but freshman third baseman Kasey Lange prevented the potential go-ahead runs.

In the third, with one out and a runner 60 feet away, Lange fielded a ground ball and decided to throw home for the out rather than get the easier force out at first.

“I heard the third base coach tell the girl to go, so I just thought instantly to throw home because I knew [the run] would tie the game,” Lange said.

During the fourth inning, after the Terriers scored on a ground out, the Crimson caught BU freshman Amy Ekart in a rundown between third and home.

As Ekart broke for home, Lange ran her down and leaped to tag her right before she could score.

“I knew that she was the go-ahead run, and we didn’t want to fall behind, so I went after her,” Lange said. “I knew she was faster than me, so I dove at her to make the tag.”

It was Lange that came up big for the Crimson once again, this time with her bat.

In the fifth inning, she laced a triple down the right-field line that scored captain infielder Ellen Macadam to give Harvard the lead for good.

“Their pitcher had been pitching me outside pitches the whole game, and she finally gave me an inside pitch, so I just turned on it,” Lange said.

In the bottom of the same inning, Allard put her ace, junior pitcher Rachel Brown, on the mound for the three-inning save.

Brown not only kept the Terriers from scoring but also didn’t allow a single runner to reach base.

In the three innings that she pitched, she baffled hitters, recording seven strikeouts for the Crimson, and finished the game by striking out the side in the seventh inning.

Crimson coach Jenny Allard and her staff decided to mix up the team’s game-plan and placed two pitchers on the mound against the Terriers.

“That was one of the few games we have really had [Ricciardone and Brown] combine together,” Allard said. “I thought it was great that BU had not seen Laura in the fall, so we wanted to give her the start and have Rachel close.”

The duo of Ricciardone and Brown combined for 10 strikeouts in seven innings.

“The pitchers did a really good job,” Allard said. “We wanted to give them both work heading into the weekend, and because the forecast for Thursday doesn’t look great, we wanted to keep everyone fresh rather than one person shouldering the load.

The cold weather and erratic conditions haven’t kept Harvard from preparing for the all-important Ivy League play that starts late next week.

“Over this next week and a half before our conference starts, we figure some [non-conference games] are going to get cancelled, and we have to figure out how to play in the colder weather,” said Allard. “[The team] really did a good job. They really kept their hands warm and stepped up, which was really good to see before this weekend.”