Thanks to dominant play on the mound by both teams, the Harvard softball team returns to campus with two wins and two losses following its weekend series against Lehigh.

The Crimson (12-6) played in doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, splitting the four games with the Mountain Hawks (13-13), each of which proved to be a pitching duel.  Over the weekend, both teams limited each other to four total runs.

“Our pitching definitely kept us in the games,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said.  “[Sophomore] Laura Ricciardone threw especially well on Sunday and shut them out. We were really effective against them on Saturday also.... They had outstanding pitching as well.”

But Allard believes that the team will need to focus on hitting this week in order to address the offensive struggles.

“The games we won, we got people on base, and we got some timely hits,” Allard says. “In the two games that we got shut out, we just couldn’t generate any offense.  We definitely struggled at the plate this weekend, and that’s something to work on heading into next weekend.”

HARVARD 1, LEHIGH 0

After dropping the first game of the Sunday double header, Harvard concluded the weekend on a strong note, defeating Lehigh, 1-0.

The Sunday afternoon game proved to be the tightest pitching duel of the weekend, as no team scored a run during the regular seven innings of play.

The Crimson needed two extra innings to find its offense. In the top of the ninth, sophomore outfielder Shelbi Olson doubled down the left field line.  She advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from senior Infielder Whitney Shaw before scoring on groundout to second by freshman Emily Gusse.

Sophomore Pitcher Laura Ricciardone sealed the game for the Crimson in the bottom of the ninth, holding her opponents to eight hits in the complete-game shutout.

“Grit and determination from the entire team [allowed us to win] that game,” senior infielder Jane Alexander said.  “Laura wasn’t feeling well and displayed a lot of heart on the mound.  I don’t think she missed a spot the entire game. And we as a team were inspired by her efforts.  We had to manufacture a run, and finally in the ninth we were able to do that.”

LEHIGH 2, HARVARD 0

Senior Rachel Brown picked up her second loss of the season on Sunday morning when the Crimson fell to Lehigh, 2-0.  She pitched six innings for Harvard, allowing two runs and six hits.

The Mountain Hawks took the lead during the bottom of the fifth inning. They capitalized off of a single, sacrifice bunt, and another single when senior Audra Wood scored the first run of the game for the home team.  A double to left brought in another runner, giving Lehigh the 2-0 lead and the eventual victory.

LEHIGH 1, HARVARD 0

Ricciardone took the mound for Harvard in the second game of the Saturday double header and, as she did the following day, picked apart Lehigh, throwing five scoreless innings.

But the Crimson batters had no answer for Lehigh’s pitcher, either.  The tight game came down to the bottom of the sixth, when a hit batter and a sacrifice bunt put a Mountain Hawk runner on second.  The home team took advantage of the game’s only offense when the next batter singled to right, bringing the runner in for the game-winning score.

“Laura threw an amazing game in the second game on Saturday and unfortunately we didn’t have the run support [to match her effort],” Alexander said.

HARVARD 3, LEHIGH 1

Harvard got off to a good start in its weekend series with a 3-1 win over Lehigh. Brown pitched a strong game for the Crimson, recording eight strikeouts through the first three innings.

In the top of the fourth, Harvard senior infielder Jane Alexander sparked the Crimson offense with a triple to right center.  Sophomore Kasey Lange brought her home on the next at bat when she hit a double down the left field line. Harvard tacked on another run in the inning when freshman infielder Katherine Lantz knocked Lange home.

The game reverted to a pitching duel until the top of the seventh, when Ricciardone led off with a single.  Shelbi Olson’s RBI single to the middle padded Harvard’s lead, 3-0.  Though the Mountain Hawks responded with a run in the bottom of the last inning, the Crimson held on for the 3-1 win.