After losing four straight games last weekend, Dartmouth softball (14-22, 7-7 Ivy) bounced back to sweep a doubleheader against Harvard (20-23, 6-8 Ivy League) on Senior Day Saturday. In two pitchers' duels, the Big Green won the first game 3-0 and the second 3-2 in 10 innings.
The victories closed out Ivy League play for Dartmouth, which finished in third place behind Princeton and Cornell. Play this weekend summed up Dartmouth's resiliency throughout the season. Coming into Ivy League play with only seven wins in 20 games, the Big Green women doubled that total in their most competitive games against Ivy League teams. Before losing to the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton last weekend, the team was in good position to contend for the Ivy League title.
"It was crushing," Stephanie Trudeau '09 said about the losses. "We all know we could have done it. We were right there in most of the games too. But now we know that we are good enough to be at the top, and that should only help to motivate us next year to reach that goal."
Recovering from the devastating losses, the team demonstrated a feisty attitude this weekend, beating Harvard twice to bump the Crimson to fourth place in the final standings.
"I was happy with how we bounced back from last weekend to sweep and end up third in the conference," Alicia Petryk '06 said. "This is only the second time this program has finished this high in Ivy standings and it was nice to end on a high note."
Starting pitcher Angela Megaw '08 controlled the pace of the first game, letting up only four hits and one walk while striking out six to win her fourth game of the season.
"My pitches were sharp," Megaw said of her performance. "I was very sure of myself and knew that if we could score some runs we were going to win."
Harvard's starter Shelly Madick held her own and kept Dartmouth scoreless until the sixth inning. The Big Green then strung together a series of hits to score three runs. Ashley Gleason had two runs batted in and Petryk drove in another. Madick was replaced mid-inning by Bailey Vertovez.
Trudeau continued the great pitching in the second game, staying in all 10 innings. The game remained scoreless until the sixth inning, when Petryk came through again, hitting a single to knock in Katie Chifcian.Harvard bounced right back to score two in the top of the seventh, the final inning of regulation in softball.
"I wish I could take back the seventh inning, but I can't," Trudeau said of her pitching. "I just have to focus on the fact that I held them off long enough after that for my team to pull through for me."
The team did come through, with a little help from Harvard. After Chifcian doubled, fielding errors allowed Dartmouth to score an unearned run. The game then went into extra innings.
Madick relieved Harvard's starter in the eighth. She could only hold off the Big Green for two innings, however, and finally let up the game-winning run in the 10th frame on an RBI hit from Gleason.
Unlike Harvard, Dartmouth's defense came through in a big way Saturday, backing up both pitchers and keeping the score low.
"Our outfield put out a consistent performance all day long catching the long drives and getting the ball in quickly which was key in limiting the multi-base hits," Petryk said.
The sweep was a fitting way for the seniors to end their Ivy League careers. They have only two more games to play when Dartmouth closes out the season in a doubleheader against Vermont Tuesday. "We're really going to miss our seniors," said Trudeau. "They're terrific people and players."
