HARVARD 6, YALE 2
After shutting out Yale in Saturday’s first contest, Harvard put together a game of solid team offense to get its second win of the series.
The Crimson created offensive opportunities for itself by hitting the ball well and stealing bases to put runners in scoring position. Five Harvard runners stole successfully, and two of those players would eventually come around to score.
“Something I think our offense prides itself on is the fact that we put a lot of pressure on the defense,” Scott said. “We have a lot of really fast girls . . . and when they’re stealing bases and they’re successful, it fuels our offense.”
Yale managed to put up eight hits and put pressure on the Crimson’s defense, but the Bulldogs struggled with runners in scoring position, limiting them to only two runs on the day.
With the score tied at 2-2 going into the sixth, Harvard’s designated player, freshman Savannah Bradley, hit an RBI triple and junior right fielder Andrea Del Conte followed with a two-run homer to put the Crimson out in front for good, allowing the Crimson to go on to win, 6-2.
HARVARD 5, YALE 0
Setting the tone for the rest of the series, the Crimson immediately leapt out to a five-run lead in the first two innings of the series’ opening game. Most of these runs came when Crimson batters hit their way on base and then scored on errors committed by Yale.
The only earned run for Harvard in this game came off the bat of captain third baseman Kasey Lange when she roped a single into right field to allow Olson to cross the plate from second base.
The story of this matchup was the complete game shutout thrown by Ricciardone. She would end the game with no runs and only four hits allowed in seven innings pitched to lead Harvard to a 5-0 victory.
“Laura does an amazing job of keeping us in every single game and gives the offense plenty of time to score,” Gusse said. “I’m never worried when Laura is on the mound.”