A two-game split in Hanover means that tomorrow’s softball doubleheader will decide the Ivy League North Division crown. After falling in eight innings to Harvard University, the team came back to walk off against the Crimson (28-13, 14-1 Ivy) in game two. The Big Green (27-16, 16-2 Ivy) now controls its destiny for the division title.
“We just need to focus on playing our game,” Kelsey Miller ’16, who slammed the seventh-inning walkoff in the second game, said. “We’ve been winning all season long and doing our best and nothing changes just because its championship play. We don’t want to change anything since we’ve had success in the past.”
In game one against the Crimson, the Big Green fell 2-0 in eight innings. The game was a pitcher’s duel between Kristen Rumley ’15 and Harvard junior Laura Ricciardone. The two pitchers combined to give up just 11 hits in the contest — Rumley, seven, and Ricciardone, four.
Both pitchers threw blanks for the first seven innings of the game and neither team threatened to break the deadlock.
In the top of the eighth, Crimson junior Emily Gusse reached on an error by second baseman Kara Curosh ’14. After a single by junior Andrea Del Conte, a double by junior Katherine Lantz brought pinch runner freshman Giana Panariello home for the game’s opening run. Lantz’s double was the only extra-base hit of the first game.
A wild pitch by Rumley plated Del Conte to put the Crimson up two.
With its back against the wall, the Big Green tried to battle back in the bottom half of the inning. Rumley reached base and was replaced by Alyssa Loyless ’17 as a pinch runner. After a Maddie Damore ’17 strikeout, Curosh tried to redeem her error at the plate.
The senior battled, fouling off a number of pitches before ultimately grounding into a game-ending fielder’s choice at second.
Rumley finished the game with eight strikeouts and one walk. Ricciardone struck out five and did not give up any free passes en route to her 18th win of the season.
“We knew we just has to keep playing,” head coach Rachel Hanson said. “We knew we had played a heck of a game, and that was a game where two teams were taking shots at each other and some just fell for them. We were ready to play game two.”
Ricciardone stayed on the mound for the second game of the doubleheader despite throwing 102 pitches in the first game and continued to dominate — Dartmouth did not register a hit until the bottom of the sixth when Ricciardone had left the circle.
Morgan McCalmon ’16 squared off against the Harvard stalwart and performed equally well. The sophomore surrendered three hits over her seven innings, striking out 13 to Ricciardone’s four.
McCalmon was only in trouble once, in the second inning. A double by Gusse plated junior Adrienne Hume to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead. McCalmon worked out of trouble, however, with a quick strikeout and pop out to strand the runner and limit the damage.
Although the Big Green did not break into the hit column with Ricciardone on the mound, the team got three walks against the junior. After Ricciardone walked two Big Green batters in the fourth, Harvard coach Jenny Allard went to the mound for a conference. Ricciardone finished the inning but was pulled in the next inning for sophomore Morgan Groom.
After the bottom of the order went one-two-three against Groom in the fifth, the top of the order made the offense work in the bottom of the sixth. With its backs against the wall, the Big Green manufactured the game-tying run.
“We don’t have big emotional ups and big emotional downs, we just battle,” Hanson said. “Sometimes hits just fall your way, and in game two they did.”
Curosh led off the inning with a single up the middle past the diving second basemen Lantz on a 3-2 pitch. The next batter, Chloe Madill ’17 rocketed one to right. However, the Crimson outfielder brought the ball in for the first out of the inning.
Curosh did not lose focus on the ball, instead advancing to second on a throwing error by the right fielder senior Shelbi Olson.
At this point, Ricciardone returned to the circle from the bench to try to prevent the run from scoring.
Katie McEachern ’16 stepped up to the plate and put the ball over Olson’s head for the game-tying double. However, two quick line outs by McCalmon and Karen Chaw ’17 ended the inning.
The RBI double ended the Big Green’s 23-inning scoreless streak.
After a routine top of the seventh, Miller stepped up to the plate to face Ricciardone. The sophomore did not wait long to make an impact, hammering the first pitch she saw deep into right.
“I think that I had a pretty clear head,” Miller said. “I had seen her all day long, so I knew what she was throwing. I trusted my swing and just did what I always do.”
As Miller rounded first, she looked up and saw the ball cross over the fence. She pumped her fist and turned to see her teammates rushing out to the plate to congratulate her.
“Your first instinct is just to run, but as soon as I hit first base and saw it was gone, I was just like, ‘Yes, we won,’” Miller said. “That’s why you play, for moments like those.”
Tomorrow’s doubleheader at Harvard will determine the winner of the North Division and the host of the Ivy League Championship series. If the Big Green wins both games, it will clinch the division. If the Crimson sweep, it will win the title.
If the teams split, it will come down to three makeup games the Crimson have yet to play. Harvard heads to Ithaca, New York, to face Cornell University (18-26, 8-10) Tuesday before returning to Cambridge to host South Division champions University of Pennsylvania in a game that was suspended in the top of the seventh. The two teams are tied 8-8. Should the Crimson lose one of these games, the Big Green would host a play-in game for the right to play in the championship.
