Leslie kickstarted the inning with a double down the left field line, and she later scored on two wild pitches. Two outs later, Harvard found itself with runners on second and third, down a run. However, Callaway took strike three looking to end the game.
“While it didn’t come out in our favor, it showed the grit that we had,” Leslie said. “We’re going to push through tough losses and tough games, and that’s going to happen in Ivies. We play three of the [Ivy League] teams four times in a weekend, so that’s about being gritty and being able to push through in the seventh inning when you face the same team and the same pitchers four times in a row.”
Coach Jenny Allard handed the ball Duncan in the circle to start the game. The Allendale, N.J. native spread nine hits over 4.2 innings and only allowed two earned runs. On the opposing side, Marist senior righthander Jayne Oberdorf went the distance, striking out four.
Schiffhauer tallied two hits in three at bats, including a double and an RBI.
HAWAII 7, HARVARD 0
The Crimson fell victim to a shutout in the second game of the Rainbow Wahine Classic, as it was unable to mount any offense against Hawaii starter Brittany Hitchcock.
Hitchcock silenced Harvard’s bats all day, throwing a complete game shutout. The junior from Huntington Beach, Calif. Allowed only four hits, all singles, and got 10 of her 21 outs via strikeout.
The Rainbows were not entirely reliant upon Hitchcock’s performance to secure the win, however. Hawaii scored seven runs on a whopping 14 hits, including four doubles. Sophomore Nicole Lopez contributed two of those doubles and drove in two.
Hogan stole second base in the top of the third. Her four steals are the second-most on the team thus far.
Hawaii and the other teams in the Rainbow Wahine Classic provided the Crimson with a tougher, but much-needed challenge early on in its season.
“In Hawaii we faced a lot of teams that had great offenses,” Leslie said. “Definitely the level of competition in Hawaii was a lot higher, but it challenged us in ways that we really needed going forward.”
CONNECTICUT 4, HARVARD 3
Harvard opened up its Hawaii trip with a close loss at the hands of the University of Connecticut, 4-3. Harvard outhit the Huskies, 7-3, but a two-run home run in the first inning off the bat of senior Taylor Townsend and some small ball in the bottom of the fifth carried Connecticut to a victory.
Following Townsend’s round-tripper in the bottom of the first, the Crimson battled back for two runs of its own in the top of the second. Leslie contributed a pinch-hit single with the bases loaded to bring in one, and Rich followed with a single of her own to plate another.
Two defensive miscues contributed to the tying and winning runs for the Huskies. An error by the second baseman and a wild pitch put runners on second and third with no outs, and a sac bunt and a single brought the runs in.
Junior center fielder Maddy Kaplan was two-for-three and contributed a sac bunt which led to Varney’s run in the top of the fifth.
—Staff writer Jack Stockless can be reached at jack.stockless@thecrimson.com.