The old rule says that pitching wins ball games. That was certainly true for the Harvard softball team yesterday.
Juniors Tasha Cupp and Heather Brown combined to give up only one run in 18 innings of work, which made up for the Crimson's quiet bats in a 2-1, 2-0 doubleheader sweep of Holy Cross at Soldiers Field.
In the first game, Harvard and Holy Cross stayed at a scoreless tie through seven regulation and two extra innings, after which each team starts the inning with a runner at second base to help jumpstart the offenses.
Each team brought home its runners in the 10th, but the Crimson stopped the Crusaders' suicide squeeze in the 11th and won the game in the bottom of the inning. Cupp pitched all 11 innings for the win.
Brown took over in the nightcap, tossing a seven-inning three-hit shutout and taking advantage of Harvard runs in the second and third innings.
From Harvard's perspective, the two games were exactly identical. Both featured good pitching, light hitting and a nagging tendency to leave runners on base--especially in the first game, when Harvard stranded seven runners in the first nine innings.
"Our bats just weren't doing anything. We made [Crusader pitcher Genoa Grosch] look awesome," said co-captain third baseman Katina Lee. "She had a pretty good riseball, but we just didn't adjust at the plate."
Fortunately for Harvard, Cupp had the same effect on the Holy Cross batters. She had a few rough spots--in the third and ninth innings the leadoff hitters got on base and eventually made it to third--but also recorded five 1-2-3 innings.
Things began to get interesting in the top of 10th, when the Crusaders started the inning with a courtesy runner, Jen Ruggiero, at second base. A sacrifice bunt moved her over to third and a wild pitch over the head of junior catcher Kara Hartl brought her home for the game's first run.
Harvard answered in the bottom of the inning when Lee's two-out double to right center brought home junior Mandy Wills from third base. Then, in the last of the 11th, freshman Deborah Abeles led off with a single, moving sophomore Tara LaSovage to third, followed by a walk to sophomore Terri Teller to load the bases.
Senior Melissa Kreuder then laced a clean single between the first and second baseman, bringing home the winning run.
Part of the salvation for Harvard came when Grosch left the game after the seventh inning. Relief pitcher Sarah Heywood was not nearly as effective, as she failed to retire the side 1-2-3 throughout her four innings of work.
But the real savior was Cupp, who did not allow any of her batters to reach in 11 innings.
"I did okay--I did fine for this game," Cupp said. "I was pretty happy, because it was my first bad weather game I've had to pitch in."
These two games were Harvard's first since spring break, due to the snow last week.
In the second game, Brown took over where Cupp left off. The Mather House resident pitched to only six batters over the minimum, giving up three hits and one walk.
For the most part, Brown used her defense to create outs--she only struck out one--and except for the second inning, the fielders were up to the challenge. In the second, two runners reached by errors as the Crusaders loaded the bases with one out, but Brown coaxed the next two hitters into hitting weak grounders to escape the jam.
Heywood continued to pitch for Holy Cross, and early on the Harvard batters picked up where they left off. The Crimson took advantage of two Crusader errors in the second inning to score Kreuder on a sacrifice fly from junior Hillary Read, and Teller singled home Lee in the third inning.
However, that was it offensively for the Crimson, except for a Lee double in the fifth. So though Harvard earned a two-game sweep, the team finds itself trying to wake up its bats before the Ivy League season begins this weekend.
"That's our current problem," said coach Jenny Allard. "We're not doing what we're capable of. When we really get after teams and just keep on at it, that's when we'll peak." 2B: Harvard--Lee. E: HC--Marcucci, Fallite, Jenkins. WP: Cupp (10-4); LP: Heywood. 2B: Harvard--Lee E: HC--Marcucci, Egbert, Jenkins; Harvard--Franzese, Godfree. WP: Brown (3-3) LP: Heywood.
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