Softball Bounces Back to Sweep Columbia

After dropping its first two games of the Ivy League season against Penn on Friday, Harvard softball bounced back to sweep Columbia on Saturday. The Crimson (9-14, 2-2 Ivy) relied on strong pitching to top the Lions (11-13, 1-3).

Overall, the weekend’s games proved to be an up-and-down start to Harvard’s Ancient Eight campaign. After beating the Quakers in last year’s Ivy League championship series, opening the season with consecutive losses stung more than usual.

“We have mixed feelings about the weekend,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “We were disappointed on Friday, but we bounced back on Saturday.”

HARVARD 3, COLUMBIA 1

Game two of the series got off to a rough start for the Crimson. A pair of errors allowed Columbia to score an unearned run in the home frame of the first.

But Harvard responded immediately with a two-run second inning. Sophomore Emily Gusse hit an RBI double and then scored on a wild pitch.

From there, it was smooth sailing for the Crimson. The team surrendered no more runs, even though Columbia had seven hits on the afternoon. Gusse gave the Crimson more insurance with another RBI in the sixth inning.

Sophomore Gabrielle Ruiz earned the win on the mound. Ruiz combined with freshman Jamie Hulula to hold the Lions to the lone unearned run.

“Our pitchers were hitting their spots more and moving the ball around,” Allard said. “When they threatened, we stayed stronger, and we didn’t get on our heels.”

The Crimson pitchers improved significantly after struggling against Penn, giving up 13 runs over the course of two games. Ruiz proved to be the key player for Harvard. After giving up four earned runs in a third of an inning on Friday, she gave up no earned runs over five innings of work.

At the plate, the Crimson’s biggest bats in junior third baseman Kasey Lange and sophomore second baseman Katherine Lantz went cold, combining for just one hit. But Gusse took over, ripping two hits and accounting for all of the Crimson’s runs.

HARVARD 4, COLUMBIA 1

In the first game of the double-header Harvard got runners on base in the first two innings, but it was the Lions who were able to strike first, as Kayla Shimoda stroked a one-out solo home run to left center in the bottom of the second. Harvard stopped the damage there though, only allowing three more hits.

After two scoreless innings, Lange smashed a two-run home run to take the lead in the top of the fifth. With two more runs in the seventh Harvard came away with a 4-1 win.

Freshman Morgan Groom pitched a one-run complete game, controlling the play after giving up Shimoda’s slam. Groom struck out five on the day, her fifth complete game of the season, and a marked improvement over the six runs—two earned—she surrendered on Friday.

“It was good for them to see that after [Friday] they could come back,” junior captain Shelbi Olson said of the pitchers. “They gained a lot of confidence, and I think they’ll keep that going in the Ivy League season. They are taking it one day at a time and one pitch at a time, and yesterday was a lesson learned.”

The Crimson fell behind early in both games, as it has in many games this season, but battled back for the win.

“When the other team scores first, we know we have to score to win anyways,” Olson said. “We just focus on us. Early in the game we know there’s plenty of game left, and we just take it in stride.”

Nevertheless, the Crimson is excited to play in front of a supportive crowd this coming week. Princeton comes to town on Friday, giving Harvard its first home league game of the year. With an Ivy League championship still feasible for the team, Saturday’s game certainly showed that two losses would not derail its season.

“It’s hard for a team to go 4-0 on the road,” Allard said. “It was a hard trip, but we’re a battle-tested team, and we’re looking forward to more comfort at home.”

—Staff writer Jacob W. Lynch can be reached at jacoblynch@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @Crimson_JacobWLynch.