In the sixth inning, junior Tasha Cupp came on in relief of Brown and did what she does best--mowed down the opposing hitters. Looking impressive, to say the least, Cupp struck out the side in the sixth and added a fourth K in the seventh.
Twenty minutes later she started the second game just where she had left off in the first. She threw three innings of no-hit ball, striking out five along the way, and improved her record to 17-8. For the day, Cupp worked five innings, struck out nine batters and gave up no hits.
"Tasha Cupp has amazing presence on the mound," Franzese said. "She is always able to come in and get the job done. Everyone has tremendous faith in her."
The play of the day, however, went to freshman center fielder Jamie Stark. With Harvard leading 5-2 in the top of the sixth, Central Connecticut's leadoff hitter sent a fly ball deep into center field.
Stark turned and started toward the fence. As the ball sailed high over her right shoulder, Stark lunged up and out to make an impressive leaping grab and rob the Blue Devil hitter of a certain extra-base hit.
Harvard's offense remained aggressive in game two, again scoring a pair of runs in the first inning. Lee led off with a double, and Franzese followed with a single. Abeles, named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week for her outstanding performances against Penn and Cornell this weekend, drove in Lee, and Kreuder plated Franzese.
In the next inning, Cupp, forced to hit because of an error on the scorecard, helped her own cause. She ripped a double deep into right field to score Wills, who had singled and stolen second.
The Crimson added two more in the third. Kreuder led off with a towering double down the left field line that came just a few feet short of clearing the fence. Co-captain Melissa Reyen and sophomore Karen Rice both followed with hard liners which were caught by the Central Connecticut second baseman.
With two outs Wills blooped a single into shallow left field, and a misplay by the left fielder allowed Kreuder to score. Cupp then recorded her second RBI of the game with a single into right plating Wills.
Again, Harvard allowed Central Connecticut to creep its way back into the game. The Blue Devils scored twice in the fourth, once in the sixth and once more in the seventh before junior pitcher Heather Brown got the final batter to ground out to second.
"We're playing well right now," Kreuder said. "We've gotten back to playing ball the way we know we can."
Harvard is indeed getting the job done. The team has won six games in a row and eight of its last nine. A weekend sweep of Dartmouth this Saturday would give the Crimson a share of second place in the Ivy League and increase its chances to make the ECAC Tournament.