CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Softball earned a pair of wins against Penn on Sunday at Soldiers Field. The Crimson first finished off an 8-2 win, which resumed in the morning after inclement weather on Saturday forced the suspension, and then collected a six-inning 8-0 victory in Game 2.
Â
With the two triumphs, Harvard has won five straight Ivy League games to move to 14-15 on the year and 8-3 in the conference. The Quakers, meanwhile, fell to 9-22 and 5-6 in Ivy action.
Â
After
lightning, hail and rain engulfed the Cambridge area on Saturday, the teams returned on Sunday to a partly sunny Soldiers Field and resumed Game 1 with one out in the top of the fourth inning with Harvard ahead, 8-2.
Â
Anna Reed re-took her place in the circle and continued what she started, shutting out the Quakers over the next four innings. As a result of Reed's performance, the Harvard offense was not required to generate more runs, leaving the margin at six and sending the home side to its sixth conference win of the campaign.
Â
Following a brief intermission, the teams returned to the diamond and continued to put up zeros. It took until the bottom of the third inning for a crooked number to shown on the scoreboard when
Molly Dickerson, who entered the game in the bottom of the first as a pinch runner, blasted a solo home run, and Harvard executed a double steal of second (
Trina Hoang) and home (
Allison O'Heany).
Â
Katie Arrambide recorded a shutdown inning in the top of the fourth and then watched her teammates add to its 2-0 lead. With one out,
Lauren Bobowski was hit by a pitch and promptly stole second base.
Morgan Melito followed with a walk, bringing up
Allison Heffley, who mashed a 1-0 offering over the right-field fence, giving the Crimson a 5-0 lead.
Â
Arrambide continued to blank the Quakers as the game moved to the bottom of the sixth, which saw Dickerson triple in Heffley and Hoang bring in O'Heany with a single. Now leading by seven, Harvard once again successfully pulled off a double steal of second (Hoang) and home (
Marissa Zheng), giving the Crimson the necessary eight runs to enact the run-rule.
Harvard Highlights
- Trina Hoang finished the suspended Game 1 with a 3-for-3 batting line to go with one run, three RBI and a walk. In two games vs. Penn, she is 5-for-7 with one run and four RBI.
- Morgan Melito and Allison Heffley both were 1-for-3 with one run, two RBI and a walk in Game 1.
- Anna Reed earned her eighth win of the season with her Game-1 effort. She went the full seven innings to post her sixth complete game of 2022.
- Heffley led Harvard with a career-high three RBI in Game 2, giving her five vs. Penn and six in her last three outings. She also scored a career-high two runs in the second game vs. the Quakers.
- Molly Dickerson was 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI in Game 2. The two hits were a career high and the home run was the first of her career. The two RBI, meanwhile, tied a career best, which was originally set vs. North Dakota on March 11.
- Katie Arrambide went the distance, going six innings with two strikeouts and allowing two hits. The win was her fifth of the year as was her complete game.Â
Up Next
Harvard and Penn will return to Soldiers Field on Monday for the finale of their three-game set. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. ET with the game airing on ESPN+.
Â
