CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Harvard softball team continues its 19-game season-opening road stretch this week when it begins Ivy League action on Friday at Yale. All three games vs. the Bulldogs will air live on ESPN+.

What to Know

- Due to inclement weather that is expected in the New Haven area on Saturday, Harvard's series-opening doubleheader with Yale has been moved to Friday, with first pitch of Game 1 set for 1:30 p.m. ET. The series finale has not been affected and is scheduled for Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

- The Crimson is slated to play its first regular-season Ivy League series since May 4-6, 2019, when it played host to Cornell. Harvard swept the Big Red before sweeping the Ivy League Playoff Series with Columbia en route to the conference crown and an NCAA tournament berth.

- Harvard will be playing its first Ivy road series since April 20-21, 2019, when it faced Princeton in The Garden State. The Crimson took two of three games vs. the Tigers.

- The Crimson comes into the series with Yale as the two-time defending Ivy League champions. Harvard captured the conference crown in 2018 and 2019, with COVID-19 disrupting 2020 and canceling 2021. The Crimson has won five of the last nine Ivy titles (2011, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2019), including three of the last four.

- Harvard has logged a healthy amount of miles in the early part of its season, having traveled to Florida, Alabama and California, with Connecticut next on the docket. The Eastern Time Zone has been kind to the Crimson as it has posted half of its season win total (3) while in the time zone.

- Harvard comes into the Yale series looking to snap a three-game losing streak. The Crimson dropped the final game of the UCR/CBU Classic to Saint Mary's in Riverside, Calif., before falling in a doubleheader at LMU earlier this week.

- Prior to its trip to LMU, the Harvard offense saw it production increase from the week before when it scored five runs across four games with three shutouts. On the first day of the UCR/CBU Classic, the Crimson scored five runs in two games and finished the five-game tournament with 16 runs scored.

- Kendall Jean led the Crimson with six hits, three doubles and four RBI during her seven games in California. In Harvard's first game vs. Saint Mary's in Riverside, Jean doubled to left center in the first and third innings to propel the Crimson to a 2-0 lead. She would later score the go-ahead run in the third in what ended in a 3-2 Harvard win.

- In Harvard's UCR/CBU Classic-opening victory over North Dakota, Allison Heffley belted a solo home run in the fourth inning to give the Crimson all the runs it needed. Harvard ended up adding two more runs in the sixth to secure the 3-0 decision.

- Megan Welsh started the California trip off on a hot note, ripping off five hits in 10 at-bats, with two of the knocks going for extra bases (1 2B, 1 HR) over three games. The junior produced an OPS of 1.400 (.900 SLG, .500 OBP) before an injury sidelined her.

- Anna Reed was named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week on Monday after she went 2-1 with a 0.54 ERA across four appearances at the UCR/CBU Classic. In a team-high 13.0 innings, she allowed just seven hits, two runs, one of which was earned, while striking out a team-best 10 batters and holding opponents to a team-low .146 batting average. During the team's trip to California, Reed pitched a team-best 13.1 innings over five appearances and ranked second on the team in strikeouts (10) to only Katie Arrambide, who had 11.

At the Helm

Jenny Allard is in her 27th season at the helm of the Harvard softball program and will be inducted into the NFCA Hall of Fame in 2022. She has helped guide the Crimson to the last two Ivy League titles (2018, 2019) and owns a career record of 643-491-3.

Up Next

Harvard will play host to Princeton on Saturday and Sunday, March 26-27. First pitch for each day is slated for 12:30 p.m. ET with the entire series airing on ESPN+.