Harvard Softball Battles Against Columbia to Notch Series Win

After a difficult weekend against Princeton, Harvard returned home to Soldiers Field to face off against Columbia (10-12, 4-2 Ivy). Coming off the back of a dominant series against Penn, the Lions carried their momentum to Cambridge, defeating the Crimson in a close 9-8 game.

However, the Crimson bounced back just a couple hours later, leading the game 4-1 by the bottom of the sixth inning before the game was suspended due to darkness at Soldiers Field. Despite the interruption, Harvard finished out the game strong on Saturday to secure its first win of the Ivy League season. With the series tied, the Crimson kept the bats swinging in the finale, establishing an early 4-0 lead and ultimately securing a dominant 12-0 victory to win the series.

Harvard 8, Columbia 9

The Lions started the series off strong with two singles off of junior pitcher Ryan Grace, stealing home off a wild pitch to score the first run of the inning. However, Harvard came back just as fast, with singles from junior Finley Payne and freshman Quinn Salazar-Stewart enabling the Crimson to score two runs off a triple from senior Priyanka Kaul to take the lead. Columbia responded swiftly, capitalizing on a fielding error to place a runner on first before retaking a 3-2 lead with a home run to left field.

While Harvard struggled to generate offense through the second and third innings, Grace managed to hold off another close scoring opportunity from the Lions with bases loaded, ending the inning with a critical strikeout. Columbia broke through just one inning later, scoring four runs on two outs off a homer combined with a series of doubles to extend their lead to 7-2. Junior Riley Flynn was subbed in for Grace during the inning, eventually ending the barrage of hits with a strikeout.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth inning that the Crimson fought back, with freshmen Alexa Muller and Elena Weinseimer starting out strong at the plate with a single and double to right field. Sophomore Audrey Szollosi brought home Muller with an RBI single for the first run in four innings, quickly followed by a single from Payne to bring home Weinseimer. Harvard only continued to narrow the gap, with a single from Salazar-Stewart bringing home Szollosi, as well as RBIs from seniors Savannah Fitzpatrick and Maya Douglas with two outs to give the Crimson an 8-7 lead.

Despite the epic six run comeback in the fifth inning, Columbia retook the lead with a right field home run in the sixth inning, keeping the Crimson at bay to win the game 8-9.

Harvard 4, Columbia 1

Both teams were back out on Soldiers Field just a couple of hours, the close competition resuming as solid defense left the game scoreless going into the bottom of the third. This time around it was the Crimson that struck first, with freshman Alexa Muller and Szollosi reaching base via a walk and single respectively. The pair capitalized off a wild pitch high and off the backstop, Muller sliding past a missed toss from the Lions catcher to pitcher. Szollosi soon followed her home after a hard hit towards first base, dodging the tag at home plate to give Harvard a 2-0 lead.

Columbia fought back, halving the gap with a single and triple with two outs before sophomore pitcher Nicolette Hunter ended the inning with a strikeout. The Crimson swiftly responded with Sun recording a hard hit right past the pitcher to get on to first. Junior Lael Ayala joined her with a walk, the pair advancing on yet another wild pitch bouncing far off the catcher’s chest. Muller crushed the ball past the first baseman for a double RBI, Ayala sliding past the tag from the Lions catcher.

Up 4-1, stellar pitching from Hunter coupled with an infallible defensive lineup to back her up allowed the Crimson to maintain its lead, with Sun and Salazar-Stewart in particular working together for a stunning throw down to stop a steal at second base in the fifth inning. Despite a game suspension at the bottom of the sixth inning interrupting Harvard’s momentum due to darkness at Soldiers Field, Hunter quickly ended the game the next day with three strikeouts to secure Harvard’s first Ivy League win of the season.

Harvard 12, Columbia 0

With the series tied, the Crimson came to its third game of the weekend ready to play with Douglas and Weinseimer getting on base early in the second inning. The pair were brought home in quick succession by Szollosi and Payne who in turn scored with RBI singles from Sun and Kaul. Harvard maintained its early 4-0 lead, refusing to let Columbia into the game with Douglas starting the next at bat with a bang, crushing the ball to left field on a full count for her third home run of the season.

A near mirror of the inning before, a walk followed by a sequence of hits from Weinseimer, Szollosi, Payne, and Sun yet again brought home three more runs, widening the Crimson’s lead to 7-0. Wanting to get in on the action, Muller hammered a ball down the middle of the field for an RBI double to give Harvard the 9-0 lead.

Hunter was unstoppable on the mound, allowing just four hits from Columbia in as many innings and preventing the Lions from making a comeback. Douglas again started the bottom of the fourth inning with her second home run of the game, the first time in her career that she’s scored multiple homers in one game. Not to be outdone, Sun soon followed up with a home run of her own, crushing the ball down the left field line to also bring Szollosi home, extending Harvard’s lead to an even wider 12-0.

Although the Lions looked to be gaining offensive momentum with runners on second and third, Hunter closed out the game with Weinseimer catching a right field fly to end the game in just five innings and secure Harvard’s 12-0 win.

Hunter’s outstanding efforts earned her the title of Harvard Student-Athlete of the Week, allowing only one run and nine hits across twelve innings of play. The sophomore pitcher now leads Harvard with a 2.71 earned run average as well as a team-best three complete games, all of which the Crimson has won.

With rivals Princeton still sitting undefeated at the top of the Ivy League standings, Harvard will carry its momentum to Philadelphia this weekend with hopes of working its way up from seventh place as the team faces off against the Quakers in a three-game series.

– Staff Writer Sofia Zhang can be reached at sofia.zhang@thecrimson.com