Freshman Lauren Stefanchik, the nation’s 29th-leading hitter with a .422 average entering the week, had just three RBI to her credit this season, but that only masked her strength at the plate with the bases loaded. Stefanchik knocked Finley out of the game by slapping the first pitch over the right side of the infield to cut the deficit to 4-3 and reload the bases.

Princeton turned to a fresh arm in Wendy Bingham to close out the game, while Harvard matched with freshman Cecily Gordon. Bingham nearly escaped by forcing Gordon into a 1-2-3 double play, but Gordon beat the catcher’s throw to first, keeping the inning alive for Whitton.

Whitton’s credited her walk-off home run, her second in three home doubleheaders this season, to nothing more than divine intervention, having prayed to the softball gods the night before.

“It all came together,” Whitton said. “I think the softball gods were there for me today.”

If there were softball gods affecting the outcome of Saturday’s game, they were certainly challenging Whitton’s mettle up until the final pitch. Princeton’s Brie Galicinao, the 2001 Ivy Pitcher and Player of the Year, had Whitton’s number on the mound and at the plate. In the first game where Galicinao went the distance, Whitton went 0-for-3 and only reached base when she was beaned in the seventh. In the second game, Galicinao homered off Whitton to tie the game at two.

Kristin Lueke, the next batter, tripled to right field and Kristin Del Calvo walked, putting Whitton in a first-and-third, one-out jam with Princeton clean-up hitter Kim Veenstra at the plate. Lueke scored on a wild pitch and freshman catcher Laura Miller threw the ball away on the play, allowing Del Calvo’s pinch runner to advance all the way to third. She scored on a deep Veenstra sacrifice fly.

“I gave what I had, but my pitches weren’t breaking, and they’re a good-hitting team, so they hit the ball hard,” Whitton said. “I just need to go in more focused and hit my spots.”

Trailing 4-2 in the seventh, Whitton walked the first batter and was yanked by Allard. Sabin came in relief, struck out the next two batters, then got the third to fly out to retire the side.

Whitton has given up nine runs, six earned through 5.1 innings pitched in her last three appearances. She hasn’t been pitching at 100 percent due to a rotator cuff injury, leaving the team with less pitching depth than it hoped for.

With senior Suzanne Guy lasting just four innings in the first game, Harvard needed eight quality innings from Brotemarkle in the doubleheader to have any chance at a victory. Brotemarkle came through by two-hitting Princeton with no walks and six strikeouts through five innings. Her only blemish was a solo home run by Del Calvo in the fourth that cut a 2-0 Harvard lead in half.

The first Harvard lead came on Whitton’s two-run single in the third, set up by the freshmen Sabin and Stefanchik. Sabin led off the inning with a double and pinch runner Louisa Canham advanced to third on a Goldberg sacrifice. Stefanchik reached base easily on a grounder as the Princeton fielder had to look Canham back to third. Stefanchik stole second with ease, leaving the meat of the order with two runners in scoring position.

Princeton 4, Harvard 3

If the conclusion of the second game was the manifestation of the softball gods’ will, then the conclusion of the first game was the umpires blasphemously playing god themselves.

Rarely does a softball game end with the cleanup hitter doubled over after getting beaned with a fastball in the gut, but that’s what happened to tri-captain Sarah Koppel in the 4-3 defeat.

Harvard was on the verge of a seemingly impossible comeback against Galicinao. With Princeton up 4-1 in the seventh, the Ivy Pitcher of the Year who hadn’t given up an earned run in six starts was getting rattled as she surrendered a double to Cooley, a two-run pinch-hit homer to Sabin, a single to Stefanchik, and hit Whitton. That brought up Koppel with two outs, two on and a one-run deficit.