The Harvard softball team has a knack for creating drama out of the blase. YALE  1 HARVARD  2 YALE  3 HARVARD  9 BROWN  1 HARVARD  3 BROWN  6 HARVARD  7

Facing mediocre competition in Yale (18-12-1, 0-2 Ivy) and Brown (6-20, 1-3), Harvard (12-11, 4-0) had to come back from three deficits in order to sweep four games this weekend at Soldiers Field. The Crimson swept a doubleheader from the Elis on Saturday, 2-1 and 9-3, and took two from the Bears yesterday, 3-1 and 7-6.

"I think that these wins were abonding experience," said Harvard Coach JennyAllard, "I was very proud of our heart and ourdetermination. I just think it would make iteasier on ourselves if we score a few more runs orend it when we need to."

Harvard sophomore pitcher Chelsea Thoke (7-6)was phenomenal all weekend, earning three of thefour victories. Thoke struck out 27 batters in21.1 innings and gave up only four earned runs.

Co-captain Terri Teller led the Crimson'soffense with a gutsy weekend performance. Tellerwent 5-for-6 on Saturday and scored thegame-winning run in yesterday's nightcap with adaring sprint to the plate on a wild pitch inextra innings.

Harvard now sits atop the Ivy League standingswith eight conference games remaining. The Crimsonhas won eight in a row and has run its Ivyregular-season winning streak to 23 games and itshome winning streak to 16 games.

Harvard 7, Brown 6 (8 Innings)

The Crimson won its final game of the weekendon the legs of its two catchers. The bats ofTeller and junior Mairead McKendry are always inthe lineup--one serves as the designated playerwhenever the other catches--and this strategy paiddividends yesterday.

Teller stood on third with two outs in thebottom of the eighth inning and the score tied6-6. McKendry stood at the plate and swung at apitch in the dirt, but in so doing, she distractedBrown catcher Sara Rowbottom, who failed to fieldthe ball cleanly.

Although the ball was lying just inches fromthe plate, Rowbottom could not find it. Tellerheaded home and, as Rowbottom desperately lungedat her, slid in head-first and touched home withthe game-winning run.

"[Teller] saw the ball go to the right of thecatcher, and she just took off," Allard said. "Shejust reacted. She wanted the game, and that's justtrue heart."

There would not have been an eighth inningwithout another heads-up play by McKendry. Withtwo outs in the bottom of the seventh and Harvardtrailing 6-5, McKendry started a rally with asingle to left field and moved to second on juniorGhia Godfree's bloom hit into left.

Junior Jessie Amberg then sent a soft grounderto second and beat the throw to first as Brown'sJulia Tudicello double-clutched on her throw.McKendry rounded third and alertly broke for home.Brown first baseman Alyson Grant threw home, butMcKendry slid under Rowbottom's tag to send thegame into extra innings.

Extra innings seemed a distant thought in thetop of the first. Brown rocked Harvard starterfreshman Julie Schwab for three runs, including atwo-run home run by Erin Connors. Freshman SuzanneGuy came on in relief of Schwab, but her dayquickly ended after three straight singles andanother run for the Bears.

Thoke then came in and took control. She struckout Jenny Purchase to end the first and fannedseven more Bears over the next seven innings.Thoke would not give up a run until the seventh.

"It just wasn't [Schwab's or Guy's] day today,so I had to step up," Thoke said.