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Softball Puts it Together to Top Yale Twice

Davis Square
Robert F Worley

Freshman Haley Davis, shown above in previous action, has come on strong of late. In a sweep of Yale Saturday, Davis recorded an RBI and two runs while getting on base four out of the seven times she stepped up to the plate. Davis is fourth on the team in RBI, with all of them coming in April. She also ranks second on the squad in on-base percentage.

The Harvard softball team (16-17, 8-4) has struggled to find consistency throughout the season, splitting many doubleheaders. This Saturday, however, it all came together in dominating Yale (8-26, 3-9) in consecutive games, defeating it, 7-4, in the first game and 4-2 in the second.

“We’re a team that’s capable of big plays, [and we] definitely made some,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “On the whole we played a better game.”

The wins kept Harvard in a tie with Dartmouth for the lead in the North Division of the Ivy League.

HARVARD 4, YALE 2

The Crimson clicked on all cylinders during the second game of the doubleheader, en route to a comfortable 4-2 win.

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The bats got the Crimson started quickly. Harvard strung together two singles and a walk in the bottom of the first to gain a one-run lead. After a 1-2-3 inning in the second, the Crimson broke the game open in the fourth, scoring three runs on three hits and a walk. Sophomore Emily Gusse capped the inning off with a two-run single up the middle.

The Crimson offense only put one more runner on base the rest of the game, but it did not matter as it had already done enough.

Freshman Morgan Groom took the mound in the first and never looked back, finishing the game giving up just two runs. She shut out the Bulldogs until the sixth inning when Yale sophomore Sarah Onorato pulled a ball down the left field line.

However, the Bulldogs could not muster any more runs against Groom, who dropped her ERA to 2.53 on the season—good for fifth in the Ivies—and earned her fifth win.

After struggling in an outing against Cornell last Saturday, Groom bounced back, regaining her rhythm. Groom has been a workhorse for the Crimson this season, leading the team with 81.2 innings pitched. This was her sixth complete game of the season.

Sophomore Katherine Lantz had two hits and an RBI in her fifth multi-hit game of the season. Junior Kasey Lange, who leads the team in RBI, was able to contribute in a different way, reaching base twice on two walks and scoring each time.

“We’ve just come together as a team,” Gusse said. “We’ve picked up from our mistakes and learned from them.”

HARVARD 7, YALE 4

In the first game of the doubleheader, the Crimson bats were out early, jumping out to a four-run lead by the third inning. Freshman Haley Davis had a two-run double in the top of the third inning to put the Crimson up three runs, scoring on an error later that inning.

However, the Bulldogs were able to come back and score four runs in the top of the fifth on a series of errors to tie the game up, as the screws appeared to be coming loose for Harvard. After hitting a single, and drawing a walk to load the bases, the Bulldogs capitalized, scoring four runs, two of which came on errors by Crimson catcher Katherine Appelbe.

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