“That’s what we’re going to focus on this week is getting more people to step up in the clutch,” Allard said.

PENN 6, HARVARD 3

Harvard had a chance to open its conference season with a win when Olson singled through the left side and Lange brought her home with a two-run jack in the top of the first.

But after holding Penn scoreless in the second, the Crimson gave up the lead in the third and never won it back, stranding 11 hitters over the course of the game.

“We had lots of runners on base, but we need to keep working on getting those runners to score,” Olson said. “We have all the pieces and we’re all good players. We just need to put it all together and get the timely hits.”

After inducing a groundout to lead off the third, Groom quickly found herself in trouble. A single through the left side brought home the Quakers’ first runner of the game and Groom responded by striking out the next batter.

With two outs, junior first baseman Georgia Guttaduro jumped on the pitch she liked and ended up scoring four—one of whom had reached on an error—with a grand slam.

The Crimson came up with a run in the top of the sixth on an Olson single, but Guttaduro’s solo homerun in the bottom of the inning sealed Harvard’s fate.

—Staff writer Hope Schwartz can be reached at hschwartz@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @hopeschwartz16