Fresh off its first-ever victory over Princeton, one of the most important wins in the program's history, the softball team traveled to scenic Vermont on Monday to battle the Catamounts in a double-header.

An undermanned Crimson was able to manage a split against the Catamounts.

The Crimson were barely able to savor its victory over Princeton, when it had to board a bus to Vermont on Monday morning. The rescheduling caused class conflicts, which left the Crimson squad depleted for the two games. In fact, only 13 of the teams 19 players made the trip, and with junior catcher Kara Hartl out with a shoulder injury, only 12 players were available to play.

Among the six players who were unable to make the trip were co-captain and third baseman Katina Lee and freshman shortstop Deb Abeles. Lee and Abeles anchor down the left side of the Harvard infield, while also filling the leadoff and three spots in the batting lineup.

The Crimson tandem are also ranked first and third on the team in batting average respectively, with Lee hitting .360 and Abeles swinging at a .314 clip. Abeles, who is leading the team with a .479 slugging percentage, has emerged as the Crimson top power hitter, collecting three home runs this season.

Despite the absence of these two key players, Harvard (21-17-1 overall, 2-4 Ivy League) split its pair of games against Vermont. The Crimson collected 18 hits on the day, but was only able to push three runs across the plate.

Stepping up for the missing players were junior Jenny Franzese and sophomore Karen Rice. Franzese went 5 for 8 on the day, while Rice was 4 for 6 with two doubles.

Franzese, Rice and sophomore Terri Teller paced the Crimson attack in the first game, pounding out two hits a piece, as Harvard held off Vermont 3-0. Seven different Crimson batters collected hits as the team tallied a total of 10 base knocks.

"In the first game, we looked very strong, especially offensively," freshman Jessie Amberg said. "We strung together hits when we need them, and we got clutch hits with runners in scoring position. This has definitely been one of our weaker points, so it was great to start off strong in this respect against Vermont."

To go along with Harvard's new found clutch hitting, the Crimson received an excellent pitching performance, as juniors Heather Brown and Tasha Cupp combined to shut out the Catamounts.

Brown started the game, and surrendered only three hits over three innings. Cupp came in and held Vermont to only two more hits in the final four innings in collecting her 14th win.

"Heather made them hit it on the ground, forced our defense to make plays, and kept Vermont frustrated," said Amberg.

In the second game, it was the Catamounts, and not the Crimson, who strung together hits, as Harvard fell 4-0.

Brown again started for Harvard, but this time she was unable foil the Vermont hitters. The Catamount bats came alive early in the second game, tallying six hits in Brown's two and one-third innings of work. Vermont put together six hits in the third inning, en route to scoring the only four runs of the game. Cupp came in for Brown, who was tagged with the loss, and provided three and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief, lowering her team leading ERA to 1.91.

Outside of the third inning, Harvard played a solid game, touching the Vermont hurlers for eight hits, while not committing any errors. However, the Crimson once again lacked the timely hitting that it rediscovered in the first game, as its eight hits were scattered over seven innings by the Catamount pitchers.