To kick off the season, the Harvard softball team traveled to the great Midwest for a spell.

Unfortunately, the friendly, laid-back nature of Cape Girardeau, Mo. belied the intense competition that awaited the Crimson (1-2).

In three games at the Southeast Softball Classic, the Crimson emerged with one victory and two losses.

During Sunday's tripleheader, the Crimson dropped a contest to Southwest Missouri State (10-4), defeated Northern Iowa (3-2) and lost to host Southeast Missouri State (1-3).

Southwest Mo. 1, Harvard 0

The Crimson rose bright and early for the 10 a.m. opener against the Lady Bears.

In the first inning, Harvard stranded sophomore shortstop Deborah Abeles on first after she got on board with a single.

The bottom half of the inning yielded the Lady Bears a hit off Crimson sophomore pitcher Chelsea Thoke.

Senior catcher Terri Teller lined a single to right center field in the second, but again the Crimson couldn't bring home a run.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Lady Bears got on the scoreboard for what would prove to be the winning margin.

Junior Tawnya Grout singled to left for Southwest Missouri. After a pinch runner was substituted for Grout, the Lady Bears managed to bring her home, for the go-ahead run.

The Harvard fifth turned out to be the best chance for the Crimson to score.

Freshman outfielder Sarah Koppel singled to the pitcher, but was thrown out on the next play-a fielder's choice that got junior first baseman Ghia Godfree on base.

After junior outfielder Jessie Amberg singled to move Godfree over to second, Coach Jenny Allard substituted senior outfielder Karen Rice for Godfree.

With runners on first and second, senior third baseman Meredith Bagley laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both Rice and Amberg. The Lady Bears then walked second baseman Tara LaSovage.