Hanover
Dartmouth (10-8 league, 11-26-1 overall) entered Saturday’s twinbill with a one-game lead in the division and a chance to punch a ticket to the ILCS to face Princeton, champions of the South Division.
The Crimson (11-7, 20-17), which will host today’s doubleheader, came into Dartmouth Softball Park and put a major damper on the hosts’ senior day as well as their postseason hopes.
“It’s gonna take a resilient team to be able to respond,” said Big Green coach Shannon Doepking, who saw her team go 1-18-1 out of conference before buckling down in the Ivies. “If I can get them to let go of (Saturday) and show up (today) and take it one pitch at a time, we’ll be all right.”
The Big Green got off to slow start on Saturday, not breaking into the scoring column until the sixth inning of the opener, when senior Karen Chaw drove a solo home run to left-center field. Chaw’s fifth homer of the season, which accounted for one of her five hits on the afternoon, cut the Crimson lead to 5-1.
The seventh inning was decisive, with Harvard scoring what seemed at the time to be two insurance runs off reliever Tessa Grossman. Grossman came on to start the fifth, replacing starter Breanna Ethridge.
Dartmouth opened up the floodgates with a huge effort during its final trip to the plate in game one.
Tiffany Dyson led off with a single and was quickly driven in by Lourlin Lara, who got thrown out at third trying to stretch a double into a triple. Three consecutive singles followed from Calista Almer, Alyssa Jorgensen and Maddie Damore before Chaw drove in a run, Morgan Martinelli delivered two and catcher Claire Bird produced an RBI of her own.
Two runners were aboard when Dyson ultimately struck out against Harvard reliever Taylor Cabe, who registered her second save on the season. Kathleen Duncan (8-6) was Harvard’s starter, pitching 6⅓ innings.
Dartmouth will look to rebound today by putting Saturday’s debacle in the rearview mirror.
“Winning the first few innings,” said Bird, when asked what her team needs to focus on in its rematch with Harvard. “A lot of times we hang around the first few when the other team’s not scoring (and) we’re not scoring, and it kind of takes them to kick us for us to bounce back. I think if we’re able to start that, I think we’ll be really successful.”
Dartmouth had few highlights in game two apart from Bird’s solo homer to break up Cabe’s shutout bid in the fifth and a final-inning RBI by Martinelli, who drove in Lourlin following a walk.
Ethridge (9-17) once again started for the hosts, pitched five innings and suffered the loss. Grossman also followed suit, coming on for two innings of relief.
Harvard, which got a complete game out of Cabe in the nightcap, was led offensively by Erin Lockhart with two homers and five RBIs overall. Olivia Giaquinto and Maddy Kaplan each contributed a homer and three RBIs to the visitors’ cause.
Yale is also in the hunt following Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of Brown. The Bulldogs are 10-8 in Ivy League play entering today’s two games with Bears. If two teams are tied, a one-game playoff will take place.
The Ivy League Championship Series is a best-out-of-three, taking place next weekend at Princeton, which already has 14 league victories.
Notes: Princeton beat Harvard in last year’s ILCS. Dartmouth won the series in both 2014 and 2015, thus advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The Big Green won the North crown in 2013 as well, falling in the LCS. … Dartmouth’s four seniors are Damore, Jorgensen, Chaw and Chloe Madill.