Harvard Softball Begins its 2025 Campaign 3-1 With a Strong Start Down South

This past weekend, Harvard softball (3-1, 0-0 Ivy) made its way to Georgia to compete at the Bash in the Boro, confidently beating Georgia Southern 6-2 and 5-4 (4-5, 0-0 Sun Belt) in back-to-games while bookending the tournament with a dominant 8-1 win and a close 3-4 loss to Furman (2-6, 0-0 SoCon).

Coming off the back of consecutive Ivy League regular season championships, the Crimson’s success has carried into the team’s 2025 campaign with both Harvard’s defense and offense looking strong in the team’s first outing.

Harvard 8, Furman 1

Despite a slight fielding error from senior Maya Douglas at first base, Harvard opened Friday’s competition against Furman with a swift shutdown of the Paladin’s offense with a clean double play. Leading off Harvard’s own offense, sophomore Audrey Szollosi patiently took all four balls Furman gave her before walking her way towards first base for the opening at bat of the season. Just three pitches later, freshman Quinn Salazar-Stewart quickly capitalized on her first collegiate showing at the plate with a right field double, allowing Szollosi to score the Crimson’s first run.

A stray pitch hitting a batter combined with clean hitting allowed the Paladins to equalize in the top of the second inning. However, Harvard quickly responded with a triple from junior Finley Payne who was brought home by a ground out from junior Lael Ayala, restoring the Crimson’s 2-1 lead.

From the third inning onwards Harvard’s dominance only grew as sophomore pitcher Nicolette Hunter remained steady on the mound, recording five groundouts and three strikeouts to stifle Furman’s offense before getting subbed out for a relief pitcher, junior co-captain Ryan Grace. Grace closed out the game with three strikeouts and an additional 2.1 scoreless and hitless innings.

Harvard’s offense also showed no signs of letting up, scoring four runs from seven singles in the fourth inning alone. Salazar-Stewart yet again capitalized on key moments offensively, hitting a single to center field allowing Szollosi and sophomore Megan Davies to both score from a bases loaded position. Sophomore sensation Sophie Sun ended the game with a bang, slugging the Crimson’s first home run of 2025 into deep left field for a final score of 8-1.

Harvard 6, Georgia Southern 2

Harvard’s momentum carried into the next game as they came out swinging in their first inning against Georgia Southern. Szollosi again led off strong with a bunt towards third base followed by a steal on a passed ball by the Georgia catcher. With a left side single on a full count and a steal to second, Sun placed the Crimson in prime scoring position with runners on second and third. Even with two outs on the board, senior co-captain Savannah Fitzpatrick prevailed, bringing Szollosi and Sun home with a two-run RBI single up the middle of the field putting Harvard up 2-0.

A combination of a clean team defense and Flynn’s seemingly easy ability to find Salazar-Stewart’s glove with consecutive strikeouts brought a swift end to the opposition’s offensive attempts. Despite starting the top of the second inning with two outs, freshman Elena Weinseimer stood up to the pressure in her first at bat for the Crimson. Making it to first base with a single up the middle, Weinseimer was brought home by a ground ball to second base from Salazar-Stewart, extending Harvard’s lead to 3-0.

The Crimson again quickly ended the Eagles’ attack with three consecutive outs. However, neither team could gain an edge through the fourth inning with both pitching staffs finding success. At the top of the fifth inning Sun got the ball rolling again for Harvard, stealing her way home on a wild pitch missed by Georgia’s catcher. Payne then crushed a ball off the fence at center field, allowing senior Priyanka Kaul to score from first base putting Harvard up 5-0.

Despite a stellar layout by Sun at shortstop preventing what could’ve been a scoring opportunity for the Eagles, Georgia Southern still managed to find their stride, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Again, neither team managed to break through and score during the sixth inning, but Davies closed out the game with one last run for the Crimson in the seventh inning, ending with a score of 6-2.

Harvard 5, Georgia Southern 4

The Crimson opened its second day of competition facing off against a reinvigorated Georgia Southern, with three consecutive outs quickly ending Harvard’s hopes of starting with a strong lead like they had just a day prior. It was the Eagles instead who struck first, scoring three quick runs against Hunter before freshman Olivia Torres was put on the mound for her first appearance playing for the Crimson.

Down 0-3 at the end of the first inning, the Crimson tried to close the gap, but to no avail as it continued scoreless against the Eagles into the top of the sixth inning. Even as Harvard’s offense struggled to generate runs, Torres excelled in the circle, helping a stalwart defense limit Georgia Southern’s runs until the bottom of the fifth inning where the Eagles managed to extend their lead by one with a solo home run. Grace then subbed in for Torres to finish out the inning.

Weinseimer led off the top of the sixth inning strong with a single to the middle of the field, with Szollosi and Salazar-Stewart following up with singles of their own, leaving the Crimson with bases loaded after just three hitters. Although Weinseimer was thrown out at home from a hit to shortstop by Sun, with bases still loaded an RBI from Douglas brought Szollosi home, putting Harvard on the board. With another single from Fitzpatrick bringing Salazar-Stewart home and an Eagle’s throwing error allowing both Douglas and Sun to score, the Crimson managed to tie up the game 4-4 by the end of their at bat.

A scoreless seventh inning sent Harvard into extra innings with a lead-off double from Salazar-Stewart followed by a sacrifice fly from Douglas to give Harvard a 5-4 lead for the first time all game. Ryan closed out the game, silencing Georgia Southern’s offense to pull off an epic comeback and secure the Crimson’s third straight win to open the season.

Harvard 3, Furman 4

Szollosi led off the second game of the day patiently getting a walk off a full count before stealing two bases after wild pitches from Furman, putting her in prime position to score off an RBI hit from Douglas. Furman responded swiftly, capitalizing on a Harvard fielding error to equalize at the end of the first inning. The Crimson couldn’t manage to find any gaps in the Paladin’s defense with Furman getting three outs in the first three batters. With two walks and a single off of Flynn, a fly ball was all it took for Fuman to take the lead as Flynn was subbed out to give first-year Linden McCarl her first appearance on the mound.

The third inning went runless before Harvard managed to equalize at the top of the fourth inning with a walk and steal from Payne, allowing her to score off a single from sophomore pinch hitter Alexa Wohr. With the Crimson seeing a series of subs to start off the bottom of the fourth inning, Furman was unable to respond, and the game remained tied 2-2. Again, neither team managed to catch a break heading into the bottom of the sixth inning as senior pitcher Katie Arrambide managed to hold steady after subbing in for McCarl.

However, another pitching change from Arrambide to Torres saw Furman gain another run, capitalizing on a throwing error from the Crimson to take a 2-3 lead on a sacrifice fly. Undeterred, Ayala put the Crimson in scoring position at second base. Freshman pinch runner Julia Mizo went on to record the team’s first out by leaving the base too early. Nevertheless, a run of singles from Salazar-Stewart and Sun followed by an RBI hit from Douglas allowed Harvard to equalize, extending the game by another inning.

Despite an early two outs, the Crimson were unable to stop Furman as a walk off double to right field ended the game 3-4, the Paladins handing Harvard their first loss of the season.

Although Harvard’s final game of the tournament against Lipscomb was cancelled due to impending weather in the Georgia area, the team’s stellar performance this weekend was recognized with two members of the Crimson receiving Ivy League weekly awards.

With three relief appearances over the course of the weekend, Grace was recognized as the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week for her flawless performance. Pitching a team-high 8.0 innings, Grace recorded seven strikeouts while allowing no runs or hits whenever she was in the circle, helping the Crimson secure its three wins.

Weinseimer was also recognized as the Ivy League Co-Rookie of the Week, alongside Ainsley Pemberton from Penn. Following her first four games with the Crimson, Weinseimer leads the team in batting average (.500), on-base percentage (.750), and walks (4). Weinseimer was also faultless defensively, recording four putouts and a perfect 1.000 fielding average.

The Crimson will look to continue its success at the Mizuno Showdown on Friday, February 28, travelling down to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to compete against Saint Joseph’s, Kent State, and the University of North Carolina.

– Staff Writer Sofia Zhang can be reached at sofia.zhang@thecrimson.com