Cornell 6, Harvard 4

For a few shinning moments in the first game, Harvard appeared to be in control against Cornell ace Sarah Sterman.

Sterman, a 2002 First Team All-Ivy pitcher, gave up just four runs all season in her seven Ivy starts last year. The Crimson scored four runs off her in just one inning yesterday.

Those runs came courtesy of a pair of two-run homers by junior shortstop Rachel Goldberg and sophomore catcher Laura Miller. The blasts turned a two-run Harvard deficit into a 4-2 lead.

Varde had given the Big Red a 2-0 lead with a home run in the first inning and an RBI single in the third.

The silence from the Cornell bench after the Miller home run was a beautiful sound for the Crimson, but it did not last through the next inning.

In the fourth, Brotemarkle had the misfortune of letting two Big Red hitters from the bottom of the order reach base. When Brotemarkle hit the top of the order, Cornell leadoff hitter Erin Sweeney made her pay with a three-run blast to put the Big Red up 5-4.

Harvard had its best chance to tie the game in the fifth when Stefanchik led off with a single and Goldberg bunted her to second. But Sterman struck out tri-captain Tiffany Whitton and sophomore Beth Sabin to end the threat.

Heintz’ home run in the top of the sixth left the Crimson with a two-run deficit.

The only offense Harvard could muster in the last two innings was a leadoff single by freshman Rachel Murray in the seventh. The Crimson’s chance to beat Sterman had already passed.

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.