HANOVER, N.H.—If the cracking sound of a bat meeting a ball is music to an athlete’s ears, the players in Saturday’s softball game at Dartmouth’s Sachem field were guests at a symphony. Ending its Ivy League season on a high note, Harvard’s offensive power swept the Dartmouth Big Green, 14-13 and 7-2.

In a first game battle that lasted two hours and thirty minutes, junior tri-captain Tiffany Whitton hit a third-inning home run that drove her into the Harvard history books as the new career record holder with 22 home runs. Sophomore Breanne Cooley led the team with four RBI.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Harvard (28-9, 12-2 Ivy) held Dartmouth (23-16, 6-8 Ivy) to just two runs behind the pitching of sophomore Kara Brotemarkle. Tri-captain Sarah Koppel, sophomore Rachel Goldberg and sophomore Sara Williamson each homered. Koppel and Goldberg each finished 3-for-3.

“We gave it everything we had today,” Whitton said. “Scoring 21 runs was great and very impressive for us.”

While a loss to Cornell last week put the Crimson out of contention for the Ivy title, the team showed its heart by executing this solid finish. Harvard finished the season one game back of Princeton’s 13-1 league mark.

“I was pleased and impressed with how we finished this year in the league,” Coach Jenny Allard said. “I give this team a lot of credit for staying strong, for staying in until the end.”

If the Crimson can beat Boston College on Thursday—avenging last week’s 9-0 defeat—then the team will finish the year with the best season win percentage in the history of Harvard softball.

Harvard 14, Dartmouth 13

Harvard’s early offense created and maintained an early lead, as Dartmouth attempts at catchup were batted away by solid and timely Crimson hitting.

Sophomore pitcher Christine Quattrocchi started for the Big Green, but after allowing three walks and releasing a wild pitch, the bases were loaded in the first inning when Goldberg stepped up to the plate. With a triple, Goldberg drove in three runs and forced a Big Green pitching staff change to sophomore Lisa Caruso. While Caruso ended the inning by forcing freshman Beth Sabin to ground out, Harvard already made its presence known with a four-run inning.

The Big Green surged back. By scoring two runs in both the first and second innings, Dartmouth tied the game at four.

“We knew that if we gave them anything they would capitalize on it,” said Koppel. “So we tried our best to make the most of our scoring opportunities.”

And that’s exactly what the Crimson did.

In the third inning, Whitton opened a one-run gap that would never be matched by the Big Green. Leading off the inning for Harvard, Whitton walked to the plate and calmly took her batting stance. With a solid contact, Whitton lifted the ball over the fence. The home run not only put her team up 5-4, but lifted Whitton past former teammate Deborah Abeles ’00 on the school’s career home run list.

The inning that was most packed with offensive prowess, however, was the fourth. Harvard and Dartmouth each registered six runs off of four hits.