One-Two Punch

It’s nighttime, and the lights are on at a sports complex in Huntington Beach, Calif. Players jog onto the field and split off to their respective positions, with one heading towards the center of the diamond. It’s Jessica Ferri’s turn to pitch against the Corona Angels, a team she’s played against many nights during her time with the Valley Breeze 18U Gold travel team.

But tonight is different. Ferri knows that there is a set of eyes in the crowd intent on seeing her best throw. After all, it is recruiting season, and she has something that Harvard needs: a strong arm.

“I remember my junior games were very important,” Ferri reminisces. “One of my big games that contributed to me getting here was at an exposure tournament. I remember I pitched really well, and [a scout] was there. She was looking for performance, attitude, and skill level, and I guess I stood out.”

A junior at the time, Ferri was being recruited by a plethora of schools, but one stood above the rest. With her strong academics and desire to go to school in the Northeast, Harvard seemed to be the perfect choice.

But for the Crimson, Ferri was just one piece of the puzzle. Harvard was already in the process of enhancing its pitching rotation, having recruited another Californian pitcher the year before. A lot was resting on this recruit’s shoulders, and now-sophomore Rachel Brown delivered.

“Last year, I considered everything almost a pleasant surprise, because I had no expectations going into my first season,” Brown remarks. “This year, however, I have high expectations not only for myself, but also for the team. We’ve been training really hard, and I think especially after a disappointing loss to Dartmouth last year, we don’t want to lose a single game in Ivies this year.”

If this goal is to come to fruition, Ferri will have to live up to the standard of Brown’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year campaign. Brown posted 211 strikeouts on the season—a Harvard single-season record—and ranked ninth in the nation with 9.8 strikeouts per game. She was also named to the All-Ivy First Team after finishing the season with a 16-7 record, and, due to injuries in the pitching rotation, Brown was forced several times in the season to follow up complete-game starts with multi-inning saves—a burden that she didn’t mind.

“Pitching is a natural motion, and I got a little bit sore, but it was nothing,” Brown remembers. “There were no serious injuries, so I got lucky. I think it’s easy to get tired, but with softball pitching, you can pitch one game and then the next day go another whole game again, because it’s tired, but not sore.”

The prospect of hurling complete games doesn’t intimidate Ferri, either. She is used to the grind of a travel softball season—including days when the team would play six games.

“I wouldn’t be pitching all of them, but either way I had that experience,” she explains. “In travel ball, [the games] would be all against different teams, but now in the Ivy League we will play four games in a weekend. But it’s all the same team, so we will have to find ways to reinvent ourselves. Batters find ways to know what you throw and we have to find a way to throw them off.”

“I never had this intense of a workload, this intense of a competition,” she continues. “So I think that’s going to be an adjustment.”

Without having played a single game in college, the freshman still seems to know the way the system works and what to expect. All this could be attributed to Brown’s mentoring. From the start of the academic year, Crimson coach Jenny Allard paired the two pitchers to be buddies, a system to make the rookie feel included on the team and to ease her into life at Harvard. The two clicked right away.

“We went to ABP and had early breakfast and just talked about classes and other things other than softball,” Ferri says. “We get along very well. When I came in I was very intimidated, because she was incredible last year, and it’s warming and reassuring to see that she’s such a kind person.”

It’s not only these early morning Au Bon Pain meetings that helped the two get to know each other. Ferri also joined the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma, where she was again paired with Brown to foster their budding friendship.

“There’s a big Kappa contingency on the softball team, so Jess is actually my little sister,” Brown laughs. “[Senior Dana Roberts] is my big sister, so it’s kind of a pitching dynasty. So it’s fun. We like hanging out together outside of the sport.”

Ferri values the friendship that has sparked between the pair of pitchers, and she realizes that this friendship will translate into a dependence that will last until Brown graduates. The two will have to learn from each other in order to have a successful season on the mound this year.

“I’ve definitely gone to her for advice, and we have very different pitching styles,” Ferri acknowledges. “There’s a lot that I see in her that are things that I need to personally work on [in] my pitching, as well as presence on the mound. She’s so poised and confident. I feel like I learned a lot just from pitching alongside her.”

Allard sees Ferri’s motivation to excel and has no doubt that the rookie will have a positive impact on the season—and especially on Brown.

“In terms of how she’ll complement Rachel, I think she’ll make Rachel a better pitcher,” Allard says. “Not just because they’re going to be competitive, but simply because if Jess Ferri can have a great season and really establish herself as a strong starter, that’s going to make Rachel better because Rachel’s going to be fresh…and Rachel, given her year of experience, has the benefit of kind of mentoring Jess Ferri as a freshman pitcher. I think that they can feed off each other very well.”

Brown has full confidence that Ferri will excel in the Ivy League, especially with the assets that the young pitcher brings to the team.

“[Ferri] throws really hard,” Brown explains. “She’s very strong, so that definitely helps add to her speed. She’ll throw inside to batters, and batters just can’t keep up with her. She spins the ball so that batters miss. So she’s got a lot going for her: speed, location, and movement, which are awesome.”

With these weapons and Brown’s trademark rise ball, the Crimson has a legitimate shot at improving its record and ultimately beating out Dartmouth for the Ivy North Division title.

And at season’s end, Ferri could have a chance to pick up a Rookie of the Year prize to match her mentor’s.

“I have to remember that there are expectations, but I can’t worry about that,” Ferri says. “I have to worry about what is in my control. Rookie of the Year is voted by other people, so all I can do is worry about how I play. My focus is still [to] play my best and contribute to the team as much as possible.”