Following a hot start to its 2017 season, the Harvard women’s softball team (8-9) faltered in Honolulu, Hawaii at the Rainbow Wahine Classic, losing six of its seven contests.

The Crimson dropped three of its games by five, seven, and eight runs, but the other three defeats were all one-run margins. Connecticut (9-14) delivered the final blow to Harvard in the ultimate game of the tournament, rallying to tie the game in the top of the seventh and tacking on a run in the eighth to pick up an extra innings victory.

The Crimson’s lone win in the Classic was a 7-3 triumph over Purdue (10-21). Sophomore Sarah Smith got the start on the mound and shut down the Boilermakers over the first four innings. Co-captain Giana Panariello hit her first homerun of the season, and junior outfielder Dallas Hogan scored three times to fuel Harvard’s offense.

All told, Harvard played 12 games in nine days between the Long Beach State Tournament and the Rainbow Wahine Classic.

“Playing a 12 game schedule within a week long period requires a great deal of grit out of a team, but that's why we do it, in order to prepare for the competition to come,” senior righthander Taylor Cabe said. “Moving forward into the rest of our season, we're excited to act upon the grit and experience we gained over break to make a strong run in the Ivy League.”

CONNECTICUT 5, HARVARD 4

Out of the Crimson’s six losses at the Rainbow Wahine Classic, this defeat was perhaps the most heartbreaking. On the heels of a 10-2 drubbing by Hawaii, Harvard looked to rebound and close out the tournament with a win.

A win appeared likely after the Crimson took a lead for the first time in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman Chanel Varney pinch ran for senior designated hitter Catherine Callaway, and she advanced to third base on a sac bunt and a wild pitch. Sophomore shortstop Rhianna Rich came up in the clutch with an RBI single, and Harvard headed to the final inning with a one-run lead in hand.

However, the Huskies rebounded immediately and plated a run on a Carissa Brizzi single to right field. The Crimson failed to score in the last half of the seventh, and Harvard found itself in its first extra innings contest of the season.

The Crimson’s hopes were not alive for long, as Connecticut efficiently dispatched of Harvard in one frame. A sacrifice fly plated sophomore Ally Hernandez, and sophomore righthander Jill Stockley finished off Harvard in the bottom of the eighth to secure the win.

“I’ll put it in the words of our coach, that’s just about timely hitting,” Leslie said. “If we would have had three more timely hits in those [one-run] games they could have gone either way. While we lost six of our games in Hawaii, we competed with all of these teams, and on any given day we could have beaten them.”

Rich went three-for-four with an RBI and a run scored.

Following the close defeat in the tournament’s final game, Crimson softball looked at its grueling spring break as a positive for the road ahead.

“The goal of our spring break series every year is to come back battle-tested and prepared for Ivy League play,” Cabe said. “We certainly accomplished that goal in California and Hawaii this year playing against excellent competition.”

HAWAII 10, HARVARD 2 (5 inn.)

The Rainbows (21-10) only needed five innings to dispatch Harvard in the teams’ second meeting at the Classic.

Fatigue on the part of the Crimson’s pitchers may have been a factor in this contest. The sophomore duo of Smith and Duncan, having both pitched earlier in the day in Harvard’s win over Purdue, were called upon again to face a potent Hawaii offense.

The top of the Rainbows’ order once again was a large part of the Crimson’s downfall. Third baseman Nicole Lopez continued to confound Harvard’s hurlers, as the freshman went deep, scored twice, and drove in two runs.

Senior first baseman Jillian Leslie left the yard with a two-run shot to left center in the top of the fourth. The home run was her first of the season.

HARVARD 7, PURDUE 3

In its rematch with Purdue, the Crimson reversed its fortunes from the previous day. This time, Harvard limited the Boilermakers to three runs and it tacked on seven of its own, the most it scored in the seven-game set.

Three runs in the top of the second put the Crimson in the driver’s seat for good, as Harvard did not allow Purdue to claim the lead at any point in the game. Panariello kicked off the scoring with a solo homer. Three singles, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch brought in the other two.

Smith went four strong innings in the circle, allowing only one run and striking out two. The win improved the Somerset, N.J. native’s record to 4-1 on the season. Cabe and Duncan combined to finish off Purdue in the final three frames.

Errors seemed to plague the Boilermakers in their two games against the Crimson. In this contest, Purdue committed six errors to add to the three defensive miscues from its earlier 8-3 win.

PURDUE 8, HARVARD 3

Too little, too late was the story of Harvard’s 8-3 loss to Purdue on the third day of the tournament.

Smith and Duncan each pitched 1.2 innings and struggled against a potent Boilermakers lineup. Smith, the starter, was pulled after walking four, and Duncan allowed seven hits and five earned runs.

Cabe stabilized the Crimson in the circle, but Harvard could not push across enough runs to overcome a seven-run deficit. Sophomore center fielder Kaitlyn Schiffhauer knocked in three with a bases-clearing single in the bottom of the fifth.

MARIST 3, HARVARD 2

A comeback in the bottom of the seventh could not save the Crimson from its second one-run defeat of the tournament.

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.