Harvard 7, Cornell 3

The first game of the doubleheader was all Crimson-or, more specifically, all Thoke.

The senior struck out eight in five innings, allowing only one run. She also helped her own cause in the bottom of the second with a two-run homer to left that keyed a three run inning off of Big Red starter Sarah Sterman. The Crimson got another run across the plate when shortstop Sarah Goldberg's double brought Watanabe home from second later in the inning.

Thoke surrendered a solo home run to Cornell's Charlotte Brombach, Thoke fell behind the next batter 3-0, but battled back to notch her 500th career punchout.

"I'm excited to have the record," Thoke said. "But a lot of it is that I'm just a strikeout pitcher. I wish I could trade some of the hits that's cost me for groundball outs."

In the bottom on the third, the Big Red began to self-destruct. Cornell shortstop Joanne Keck committed two costly errors as the Crimson scored two more runs without getting a single hit.

Cornell mounted its final serious threat in the top of the fifth when Thoke walked the bases loaded with no outs. But she escaped the jam when she fielded a Christina Trout line drive and threw to home to get Erin Sweeney out at the plate. Thoke then struck out the next batter to shut down the rally.

Kara Brotemarkle pitched the final two innings, giving up two runs on two hits.