With two outs in the seventh, Harvard appeared to have placed the tying run on base when Brown clubbed a hit down the left-field line. But in another twist of fate, the ball was judged foul by the home plate umpire and Brown was returned to the batter’s box, much to the dismay of Allard.

“It was the wrong call, blatantly wrong,” said Allard, who watched the play from the third-base coaching box. “The ball was completely fair.”

The game—and successful opening Ivy weekend—promptly ended on a soft grounder to short.

“We’re a little disappointed,” Allard said. “Because we thought we were the stronger team. Hopefully it fuels our fire.”

Sophomore Becky Voaklander kept the Crimson within striking distance down the stretch with five shutout innings in relief of Watkins, surrendering only a single hit in the process. Watkins moved to 3-4 with the loss.

HARVARD 2, YALE 0

Freshman Shelly Madick rounded off her breakout week with another complete-game win in the opening game, this one a four-hit shutout of the dangerous Bulldogs.

Yale starter Ashley Linnenbank matched Madick pitch for pitch through the early going, holding Harvard to a single hit—a bunt single by Stefanchik in the first—through the first three innings.

Kerper came through for the Crimson in the fourth, smashing her fourth home run of the season to deep right field to break the scoreless tie.

Swinging for the fences, Kerper had some extra motivation in addition to her desire to grab Harvard the lead.

“It’s my dad’s birthday today,” Kerper said. “And I thought ‘What was the best birthday gift after coming in from California?’”

By that point, Madick was on cruise control, racking up six strikeouts in her fourth win in six days.

She got an insurance run from the offense in the last of the fifth inning. A hard-fought leadoff walk by Cecily Gordon—who fouled off several Linnenbank offerings to earn the free pass—and line-drive double from senior catcher Annie Dell’Aria put runners on second and third with one out. Junior Erin Halpenny finished the rally with a sacrifice fly to center.

Harvard begins another action-packed week with meetings against local rival Boston College and Boston University tomorrow and Thursday, before traveling south to take on Ivy opponents Princeton and Penn.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.