CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard, the two-time defending Ivy League champions, will begin its title defense on Friday when it faces Princeton on the road to open the Ivy League Playoff Series.
What to Know
- Game 1 is set for Friday at noon, with the second game scheduled for the same time on Saturday. If a third clash is needed, it will follow Game 2 on Saturday. The entire series will air live on ESPN+.
- The Crimson is making its fifth straight Ivy League Playoff Series appearance and 10th in the 14-year history of the series. Harvard has raised the conference trophy five times (2007, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2019). Its other appearances occurred in 2008, 2010, 2016 and 2017.
- The Harvard-Princeton match-up features the two teams with the most Ivy League Playoff Series championships. The Crimson owns a conference-best five titles, while the Tigers boast three. Cornell and Dartmouth each have two with Penn having claimed one.
- The 2022 playoff between Harvard and Princeton will mark the fourth meeting between the schools after facing in 2008, 2016 and 2017. The Crimson will be in search of its first postseason series win over the Tigers.
- Harvard is looking to claim its third straight Ivy title after sweeping Dartmouth and Columbia in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The 2020 and 2021 editions of the Ivy Playoff Series were canceled due to the pandemic.
- The Crimson enters the series after finishing behind Princeton in the Ivy League standings. Harvard completed its conference schedule with a 15-6 mark, while the Tigers went 17-4, taking two of three from the Crimson in Cambridge at the end of March.
- Looking back at the regular-season match-up between Harvard and Princeton, the teams were fairly even. The Tigers outhit the Crimson, 21-18, in the series but Harvard had a lower team ERA (1.67-2.10). The Crimson was ultimately doomed by six errors as just five of the 11 runs allowed were earned.
- After dropping the regular-season series to Princeton, Harvard went 12-3 the rest of the way, including a 2-1 effort at Cornell last week. The three-game road series capped a stretch of six games in five days after Harvard won its home series vs. Dartmouth, which secured its spot in this week's playoff match-up.
- During the Cornell series, Madi Mays and Marissa Zheng led the Crimson with three RBI apiece. Mays was 3-for-8 at the plate, matching Morgan Melito's production. Zheng, meanwhile, was 2-for-4 and scored twice. Ella Lee, Lauren Bobowski and Allison Heffley were others with multiple RBI as each drove in two runs.
- Over the course of the Ivy League season, Anna Reed made her case for conference pitcher- and rookie-of-the-year accolades. The sophomore finished second in the league with a 1.35 ERA (conference games only) and was the only player in the top three who started at least 10 games. Over her last five appearances (four starts), Reed is 4-0 (2 CG), with a 1.02 ERA and 17 strikeouts, covering 27.1 of the Crimson's 36.0 innings.
- Melito enters this week's slate of games riding a season-long seven-game hitting streak, which is tied for Harvard's second-longest of 2022 (Heffley - 15). During the streak, the senior is hitting .524 to go with a team-best 11 hits, six runs (tied), three doubles, one home run and 1.393 OPS (.810 SLG, .583 OBP). She has also played an error-free first base.
- Bobowski, who leads the Ivy League in steals (overall - 18, conference - 11), enters this week's action having reached base in 21 straight games. In that span, she has an on-base percentage of .438, while hitting .339 with 19 runs scored at 13 stolen bases.
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 658-499-3.
