HARVARD 6, YALE 0

In the series opener, Brown sparkled again, taking a no-hit bid into the seventh but settling for a one-hit shutout that included 16 strikeouts.

“I felt really good,” she said. “It was definitely nice to have a few days off during this week...I think that really helped. I felt a lot stronger on the mound and kind of more mentally alert.”

But Brown’s supporting cast gave her an early lead with a four-run third inning.

Macadam drew a one-out walk and quickly stole second base. After moving to third on Krysiak’s single, the pair orchestrated a double steal, with Macadam swiping home to score the game’s first run.

Shaw reached on an error that let Krysiak score, and Ferri followed up with a bomb over the center-field fence to bring the score to 4-0.

After struggling to string hits together in last weekend’s series with Brown, the Crimson bats did not have the same problems on Saturday.

“I thought we came out great,” Shaw said. “We hit the ball very hard, and we came out and really showed our intensity in our bats.”

Shaw was the catalyst for the game’s final two runs, reaching base on a single in the fifth. Freshman pinch runner Ashley Heritage then came around to score on senior Jess Pledger’s sacrifice fly.

The sophomore slugger gave Harvard some insurance with one out in the seventh, drilling a solo homer to center.

And after letting the first two runners reach in the seventh, Brown pitched her way out of the jam to preserve the shutout.

The sweep also put the Crimson alone in first place heading into today’s doubleheader against Yale. Dartmouth split with Brown on Saturday to fall one game back.

“It feels great because it comes on a great day,” said Brown of taking sole possession of first, “but we also aren’t going to take it too lightly...We can’t hope for anybody else to [clinch the division] for us—we have to win out and take the games in our own hands.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.