Softball Prepares To Play Eagles

This week, the Harvard softball team (17-17, 8-4 Ivy) will travel to Boston College (16-18, 1-11 ACC) for a non-conference matchup on Thursday and will return home for a pair of doubleheaders versus Ancient Eight rival Yale (7-17, 2-8 Ivy) on Saturday and Sunday.

After a nine-game winning streak that included seven victories over Ivy League competition, the Crimson has dropped its last two games. Most recently, Harvard dropped its first game on home soil–a 6-2 loss to Boston University on Tuesday.

“We need to show up on Thursday ready to play,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “We have a great opportunity on Thursday to get dialed in for the weekend. We’ve had strong weekends the last two weekends, and we need to bring that back [against Yale].”

It is do-or-die time now for Harvard, which currently sits in second place behind Dartmouth in the North Division of the Ivy League. With just eight conference games remaining on the schedule, four of those this weekend against Yale, the Crimson will need to get back on the right track if it wants to secure a spot in the Ivy League Championship Series at the end of the season.

Before it can set its sights on the Bulldogs this weekend, Harvard must first battle Boston College, who the Crimson beat twice in last year’s campaign by a combined three runs.

“Midweek games provide the opportunity to improve the things that were weak from the previous weekend and get things sharpened and ready for Saturday,” senior pitcher Laura Ricciardone said. “This team will need some strong performance leadership from its senior class and every pitcher on the pitching staff will need to be effective in our outings.”

That pitching staff has faltered slightly as of late, giving up an average of six earned runs per game in its last three outings. Ricciardone, who leads the Crimson with a 2.63 ERA in 16 starts, will help provide a much-needed spark to the Harvard pitching corps.

However, the Slidell, La, native will have experience on her side in facing Yale, as Ricciardone recorded all four wins in Harvard’s four matchups against the Bulldogs last year.

Even more remarkable, the senior faced 74 Yale batters in those four games and did not give up a single earned run.

The Crimson will also rely heavily on its seniors on the offensive end, including senior infielder Katherine Lantz, who brings a nine-game hit streak into Thursday’s contest against Boston College.

A Harvard offense that managed only two runs in each of its last two games, both ending in losses, will need Lantz to continue her current offensive tear, as she leads the Crimson in home runs, triples, and slugging percentage.

Harvard will need its offense firing on all cylinders, as Yale brings a pitching staff that has allowed the least home runs and walks in the Ancient Eight. While the Crimson hopes to capitalize on experience, the Bulldogs will rely on youth as freshman Francesca Casalino and sophomore Lindsay Efflandt spearhead a rotation with a combined ERA of 5.05.

This upcoming stretch of games for the Harvard squad should feel slightly familiar, at least for the upperclassmen who played in last year’s campaign.

In the 2014 season, the Crimson carried a program-record 18 consecutive wins into a weekday faceoff with Boston University, where the Terriers snapped Harvard’s streak with a 2-1 win. The Crimson went on to lose three of its last four and finished in second place in the Ivy League North Division.

This year, the team faces a similar challenge, as it currently sits in second place in the Ancient Eight following a loss to Boston University.

Ricciardone, insists that her team is certainly capable of making a run at the end-of-season Ivy League Championship Series.

“We just have to consistently put all three facets of the game together [offense, pitching, defense] and fight for each game,” the senior said.“We have had to battle adversity throughout this season and the last Ivy weekends will be no different. Nothing will be given, we’ll earn each win, but we believe in our ability to do so.”