After two straight two-run frames from Penn, the Crimson came up in the bottom of the sixth down five.  Two straight outs seemed to put Harvard in a hole, but then the rally began. Three batters later, the bases were loaded. Back-to-back errors by Penn’s shortstop allowed three Crimson runners to score. Then junior Adrienne Hume belted a double to left-center to tie the game, which will be finished at an undetermined time.

“Penn's a great team,” Lantz said. “We wanted a little bit of revenge after the games last year.”

HARVARD 8, PENN 3

The first game of the weekend appeared on paper to be a pitcher’s duel, pitting Ricciardone (2.38 ERA) against Penn’s Alexis Borden (1.99 ERA). But the Crimson bats went off for eight runs on eight hits to lead the team to a convincing win.

Harvard fell behind early on a solo shot from the Quakers’ Leah Allen in the top of the second. The Crimson, however, managed to come back in the bottom half of the inning and strung together hits to score three runs on back-to-back singles.

Penn and Harvard traded runs in the third inning, but the Crimson broke it open in the fifth with four runs on three hits, including an RBI single from junior Katherine Appelbe, who went 3-for-3.

From there, Ricciardone and junior Gabrielle Ruiz combined to hold Penn to just three runs.

“Penn was the defending Ivy League champs, and we were really ready for the games, “Ricciardone said. “We had a chip on our shoulder, and our offense never gave up.”

—Staff writer Jacob W. Lynch can be reached at jacoblync@gmail.com.