Softball Clinches Championship Against Dartmouth

Tiffany Whitton, Sarah Koppel, and Jessie Amberg all played outfield yesterday in the second game of Harvard softball's doubleheader against Dartmouth.

But the way sophomore Suzanne Guy was pitching, you wouldn't have noticed.

Guy threw a masterful complete game to lead the Crimson to a 2-0 win over the Big Green. She was so dominating that all 21 of Dartmouth's outs came from Harvard's infield, including 17 groundouts and three strikeouts.

"It's the nature of the way I pitch," Guy said. "They usually just hit ground balls, and that's what happened today."

But ground balls were not the biggest news yesterday: Harvard took home the Ivy Crown for the second time in three years.

After taking the championship in 1998, the Crimson let Cornell steal it last season. Its return to Cambridge means Harvard will get a chance to compete in the NCAA regional tournament.

The Crimson needed only one win going in to yesterday's double-dip against Dartmouth (28-11, 7-3 Ivy). After the Big Green narrowly edged Harvard 3-2 in the first game, the Crimson (18-19, 10-1) came out relaxed and efficiently put away its opponent in the second game.

Harvard 2, Dartmouth 0

If the pressure was on, Harvard wasn't feeling it in the second game of the doubleheader.

Harvard 2, Dartmouth 0

The Crimson showed poise on the defensive end, playing error-less ball and making several spectacular plays. The infield stayed busy as Guy's low-and-away pitching led to ground ball after ground ball.

Co-captain Deborah Abeles sparkled at shortstop, picking up seven ground balls and making the long throws across the diamond to snag runner after runner at first.

Senior third baseman Crystal Springer contributed four assists from the hot corner.

The Crimson offense also made things easy for Guy by scoring early. Actually, very early.

Freshman left fielder Tiffany Whitton, Harvard's lead-off hitter, took Dartmouth starter Stacy Sanders' second pitch into the grassy area behind the centerfield fence in the first inning for a lead-off home run.

It was the second time she had led off with a first-inning home run this week.

Harvard also struck again in the third inning. After Sanders struck out the first two Crimson batters, she walked Harvard co-captain Ghia Godfree.

Abeles then singled up the middle, moving Godfree to second. Junior Mairead McKendry connected for another single up the middle in the next at-bat. Godfree beat the throw home, but Dartmouth caught a break when it threw out McKendry as she attempted to advance to second.

While those two runs were all Harvard would put on the board, Guy made them count. Inning after inning, she worked quickly to put away the Big Green, avoiding walks and unfavorable pitch counts.

In the first, third, fourth and sixth innings, Guy put down the Big Green hitters 1-2-3. Dartmouth batters, often out of frustration, swung helplessly at quick, low pitches.

Guy was so on the money that only one batter was able to figure her out. Dartmouth shortstop Jenny Harsey connected for a squib single in the second, then got a double in the fifth when she hit Guy's down-the-middle fastball off the fence in centerfield.

However, when Harsey had the chance to tie the game in the top of the seventh with a runner on first, Guy turned up the heat. Harsey connected but meekly tapped the ball to first for the final out.

Harvard was happy to get the weekend split, even if it meant sitting through its first Ivy loss with the title a win away.

"We wanted to go 12-0 [in Ivy play]," Harvard Coach Jen Allard. "But then the pressure was off, and we relaxed and we played well."

Dartmouth 3, Harvard 2

In the first game of the day, the Crimson hitters who had been on fire for weeks just couldn't put together the big hit they needed to preserve their perfect Ivy season.

Dartmouth 3, Harvard 2

Dartmouth freshman ace Christine Quattrocchi came up with clutch pitching in tight situations throughout the game. She managed to outduel Crimson junior Chelsea Thoke and boost her record to 19-2, despite a struggling defense behind her that made three errors, including two misplayed sacrifice bunts.

The Crimson's best opportunity to take the lead came in the bottom of the fifth. With the score tied 2-2 and Whitton on with a leadoff single, Godfree accidentally popped the ball down the third base line.

But Dartmouth third baseman Kisa Brannen and catcher Carrie Sekela collided violently while trying to make the catch. The ball dropped, and Harvard had runners at first and second.

After Abeles flied out, McKendry grounded to first. Instead of taking the easy out, first baseman Carrie Hoverman decided to get Whitton at third. The throw was late, and the Crimson had the bases loaded with one out.

But then Quattrocchi managed to erase her infield's mistakes with one pitch. Koppel grounded the ball to Quattrocchi who tossed it to Sekela for the force at home. Sekela then gunned the ball down to first for the third out.

"I thought we could have handled their pitchers a little better, but their pitchers did a great job keeping us off-balance and keeping the ball down," Allard said.

Showing no ill effects from her collision with Sekela, Brannen led off the sixth with a double. She scored the eventual game-winning run on a Hoverman sacrifice fly.

The Crimson came just short of a game-tying rally in the bottom of the seventh.

Harvard put itself a hit away from tying the game when Amberg started the inning with a single up the middle, and Whitton bunted her to second.

But that game-tying hit never came. Quattrocchi struck out Godfree, then walked Abeles on a questionable ball four call that caused the Dartmouth bench to leap up in anger. Quattrocchi settled down and beat McKendry on a called third strike, ending the game.

"We were tense when Dartmouth came out and scored," Allard said. "We got a little nervous and we didn't swing the same way."

Dartmouth took an initial 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Thoke hit a batter and walked to set up the scoring threat, then Sekela and Sarah Damon delivered with a pair of RBI singles.

On Dartmouth's second run, Amberg's throw beat Hoverman to the plate but Hoverman managed to evade McKendry's tag.

The Crimson erased the deficit in the bottom of the third.

Whitton was the rally starter as usual, leading off with a single. Then Dartmouth misplayed Godfree's sacrifice bunt, throwing the ball into right field, giving Harvard runners at second and third.

Abeles followed with a single that drove home both runs and tied the game, but that was all the scoring the Crimson could manage for the game.

Quattrocchi pitched seven innings, gave up seven hits, struck out six and walked one on the day.

Thoke gave up six hits and struck out seven in a losing effort.

The Crimson's first Ivy loss may have left the team disappointed for the moment, but one game later, all unhappy thoughts would succumb to the joy of winning the Ivy title.