It's official: the Harvard softball team is struggling. On Friday afternoon, in its most recent episode of self-destruction, the Crimson dropped both ends of a double-header to lowly Central Connecticut State, 9-8 and 4-3.

The loss was especially painful for the Crimson (6-12 overall) because Harvard had swept a twinbill against the Blue Devils last season and fully expected a similar result this year.

"Without a doubt, we should have won both of these games," sophomore catcher Kara Hartl said.

Defense, usually the most consistent part of Harvard's game, proved to be its undoing in both contests, as the Crimson committed seven errors and had many plays which could have been errors scored as hits.

"We had a lot of errors," Hartl said. "A lot of them were routine plays and that was what was so frustrating. Our bats were on fire, [but] for some reason our defense broke down."

In the first game of the double-header, Harvard seemed to be playing solid softball. With sophomore pitcher Tasha Cupp cruising, the Crimson held a 7-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning.

But then Harvard self-destructed--an error by junior third baseman Katina Lee to lead off the inning got the Central Connecticut State rally started. The Blue Devils capitalized, scoring four runs to cut the Crimson lead to 7-6, chasing Cupp.

"It's a hard thing to deal with," Cupp said. "Balls that should've been caught weren't. I was tight the whole game. I wasn't hitting my spots."

Inheriting two Cupp baserunners, sophomore hurler Heather Brown also received little defensive support from her teammates, as both runners crossed the plate to give the Blue Devils an 8-7 lead.

In the top of the seventh inning, Harvard showed a flash of resiliency, evening up the score at 8-8. Unfortunately, the Crimson could not hold the lead; a Blue Devil double off Brown into the left-centerfield gap scored the game-winning run, handing Harvard another tough loss.

"Everyone's putting a little too much personal pressure on themselves and that's directly impacting the team," sophomore centerfielder Jenny Franzese said. "We had a talk after the game about what was going on and we felt that personal pressure has been too much."

But there was little noticeable change in the second game of the double-header--Harvard gave up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning to fall behind 2-0.

Again, poor defense plagued the Crimson, as Brown--who started the second game and pitched well--received little help from her teammates.

"I think the pitchers have been working very hard," Franzese said. "That has continued to be a strength."

Trailing 4-2, the Crimson loaded the bases in the top of the fourth inning, but only managed to push across a single run, cutting the Blue Devil lead in half.

Harvard had another opportunity to take the lead in the fifth inning. But with runners on second and third, sophomore leftfielder Hillary Read lined out to center in what would be its last opportunity (following the bottom of the inning, the game was called due to darkness).

"I think we're all really frustrated we're trying to find what we need to do to bring it up," Hartl said. "Last year, it just sort of happened. I think that with [more] games we'll be able to turn it around."

The question is: how many more games will it take? Harvard  8 Cent. Conn  9

Harvard  3 Cent. Conn  4