Not so silly, however, to Wheaton, which came up with two runs against Harvard pitcher Gerri Rubin, forcing the hosts to bat in the bottom of the seventh.

At which point Hayes stepped to the plate and knocked L' Heureux's first offering out of the park.

"The kinds always seem to find a way," Harvard Coach John Wentzell said. "It wasn't pretty today, but we keep rolling."

The squad rolled to an early 2-0 lead in the first, when L' Heureux loaded the bases on walks and fielder's choice ground balls. Then, with two down, she walked both Lisa Rowning and Rubin, allowing two Crimson runners to trot home.

Wheaton's big inning, the seventh, came as Rubin was tiring. The junior hurler had thrown 78 pitches entering the frame, and opened up by walking the first batter.

She yielded three more hits in the inning, and by the time third baseman * gobbled up a grounder and raced to the sack to make the force out that ended the inning. Wheaton had battled back to be the game at three.

"I didn't expect to have to go to the seventh," said Wentzell, whose squad has held its lead in the final inning of the two previous games it has hosted.

Hayes' homer, however, provided a quick and unexpected, solution to the Crimson's dilemma.

Then again, on a day like yesterday. It's hard to call anything unexpected.