Softball Scores Pair of Extra-Inning Wins

Someone forgot to tell Sarah Koppel that she is only a freshman.

Rookies aren't supposed to drive in both game-winning runs in a doubleheader sweep and earn one of the victories on the mound, but that is exactly what Koppel did yesterday.

Harvard (8-11) remained unbeaten at home in 1999 with two extra-inning wins over Boston College (9-13), 3-2 and 7-6, on a blustery day at Soldiers Field. Koppel (2-0) drove in freshman Lisa Watanabe with the winning run in both games, and she pitched the final three innings of the nightcap to pick up her second victory.

"I was really excited," Koppel said. "When you're up there you have a job to do, and you're not really thinking of the pressure that's on you."

Koppel was 4-for-8 on the afternoon with two RBI as the Crimson overcame a pair of home runs by B.C. junior Chris Vicari, one in each game. Harvard co-captain Deborah Abeles had another fine afternoon at the plate, going 5-for-7 with two RBI, and co-captain Terri Teller and sophomore catcher Mairead McKendry each had a multi-hit game.

Sophomore Chelsea Thoke (4-6) went the distance in the first game for Harvard and struck out six batters en route to the win.

Harvard 3, B.C. 2

Koppel stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning in the first game with the stage set for good theater. By tiebreaker rules, each extra inning begins with the last batter who was put out in the previous inning on second base, so the eighth began with Watanabe in scoring position.

Abeles led off with a single to put runners at the corners, and Teller moved her to second on a ground out. Koppel then came up and coolly stroked a one-out single up the middle, allowing Watanabe to trot home and end the game.

"It was really exciting to see everyone's reaction--everybody was just jumping around," Koppel said. "But we should have put the game away sooner."

Instead the majority of the game was a pitcher's duel. Thoke and B.C.'s Gretchen Thompson combined to scatter 11 hits and give up only three earned runs. The Eagles, however, struck first and struck early.

B.C. wasted no time jumping out in front. With a runner on base in the top of the first, Vicari deposited a Thoke offering over the fence, and the Eagles led 2-0.

But Harvard cut that lead in half in the bottom of the second. Koppel led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by McKendry and took third on junior Ghia Godfree's bouncer back to the mound.

Junior centerfielder Jessie Amberg drove Koppel home with a single up the middle to make the score 2-1. That is how it remained until the bottom of the seventh when a pair of B.C. mistakes opened the door for Harvard's comeback.

With one out and McKendry on first, Godfree deadened a beautiful bunt in front of the plate. B.C. catcher Jennifer Perrotta picked up the ball and threw down to secondbaseman Summer Jarratt covering first, but the throw pulled Jarratt off the bag and Godfree was safe.

Amberg followed with a grounder to second. What should have been a bread-and-butter play for Jarratt turned into an adventure as she booted the ball toward the first-base line. By the time Jarratt recovered the ball, McKendry had motored around third and scored the tying run.

"Successful teams will take advantage of mistakes," Teller said. "We definitely took advantage of B.C.'s mistakes."

Thoke came out firing in the top of eighth and struck out the first two batters she faced before closing the door on B.C., setting up Koppel's heroics.

Harvard 7, B.C. 6

The second game saw more scoring but no less drama than the first. After two innings, however, it seemed that Harvard would have an easy time achieving victory.

With the score knotted at 1-1, Godfree led off the bottom of the second with a towering double into right, and she took third on a wild pitch. Senior Tara LaSovage followed with a walk and took second on another wild pitch, and freshman pinch hitter Cherry Fu drew a walk to load the bases.

Amberg then singled up the middle to score Godfree, and one out later, Abeles stung a two-RBI double down the third-base line. Teller rounded out the scoring with a bloop single to right to senior Meredith Bagley, who had reentered the game to run for Fu, and the Crimson led 5-1.

B.C. chipped away at Harvard's lead with two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth on Vicari's second dinger of the day, and the Eagles tied it up in the seventh when Thompson scored on a wild pitch by Koppel.

"[B.C.] utilized their bats well," Abeles said, "but it was also evidence of us not burying them earlier. We should have gotten more runs."

B.C. took a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth on Jennifer Lombardi's sacrifice fly, and things may have been worse for Harvard if not for an outstanding defensive play by sophomore Tara Dunn and Teller.

With two outs and runners on first and second, the Eagles' Julie Ulbrich laced a base hit into leftfield. As Perrotta chugged around third and headed home, Dunn came up and fired a bullet to the plate. Teller fielded the ball cleanly and applied the tag to cut down Perrotta and keep the Crimson within striking distance.

That play proved a game saver as Harvard mustered only one run in the bottom half of the inning when Bagley bunted LaSovage home. One inning later, Koppel worked her magic again.

After a Teller single juiced the bags, Koppler lofted a hit into right field. The wind wreaked havoc with the ball, allowing it to drop and Watanabe to score from third. The wind, however, only turned what would have easily been a sacrifice fly into a game-winning hit.

"That was definitely a clutch performance by an underclassmen," Teller said of Koppel's day. "I wasn't surprised; [Koppel] is a great hitter."

Koppel also pitched the final three innings in relief of freshman Julie Schwab for the win. Schwab gave up seven hits and three earned runs in six innings.

Harvard has now won 12 consecutive home games, a streak that dates back to a loss to Rutgers on April 5 of last year.

That home winning streak as well as the Crimson's 19-game regular season Ivy League winning streak will be on the line this weekend as Harvard opens its Ivy season with home doubleheaders against Yale and Brown. The Crimson will face off against the Elis tomorrow at 1 p.m. and versus the Bears on Sunday at 1 p.m.