It was Patriots Day yesterday, a day to celebrate Massachusetts traditions.

The 100th installation of the Boston Marathon was run, the Red Sox played their annual 11 a.m. game (and lost--a tradition for the 1996 season, it seems), and the Harvard softball team played its old-time rival in Yale.

And in what is becoming a new tradition, the Crimson (9-13, 3-1 Ivy) swept the Bulldogs (6-20, 2-2) for the second straight year, winning 5-0 and 4-3 contests at Soldiers Field yesterday.

Sophomore Tasha Cupp picked up the win in both games, while Harvard's bats and gloves were much sharper than they were Saturday when Harvard split a doubleheader with Brown.

"They played like they're capable of playing," Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. "As soon as they were warmed up and were ready to go, I could tell--there was fire in their eyes."

Harvard 5, Yale 0

Last year it took 17 innings for Harvard to score against Yale down in New Haven. Yesterday, it took four batters.

The Crimson jumped out of the gates for four runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back, as Cupp pitched to only four batters over the minimum in a 5-0 win.

"The first inning was very important--it's always easier to play when you're ahead," said junior Melissa Kreuder, who delivered the first big blow with a bases-loaded double.

Sophomore Jenny Franzese doubled to lead off the first, followed by a walk to senior Danielle Feinberg. Senior co-captain Amy Reinhard then hit a grounder to third, but the swift Franzese avoided the tag to load the bases for Kreuder. Kreuder's double--the seventh consecutive time she had reached base safely--plated two.

Harvard was looking at a big inning and sophomore Hillary Read ensured that as she also laced a double off starter Jen Surface to make the score 4-0.

That was all Cupp would need, as she held Yale to two hits and two walks. The fielding was also sharp--and then some.

Three times a Yale player knocked a ball out of the infield only to see one of Harvard's outfielders--Kreuder twice and Franzese once--nail the runner at first or force someone out at second.

"We went from nine errors [against Brown] to basically no fielding errors, and that's an amazing turn," Allard said.

Harvard added a fifth run in the fifth when Feinberg, who had singled, scored after the Yale shortstop dropped a pop-up. Obviously, only one team fielded well in game one.