Cambridge, Mass. - The Harvard softball team (3-2) will head back to the Carolinas for the second weekend of play at the Black and Red Softball Tournament hosted by Gardner-Webb University. The team will face off against Gardner-Webb, UT Chattanooga, Detroit Mercy and Sacred Heart in Boiling Springs, N.C. in five games from Friday, March 3 to Sunday, March 5. The game against Gardner-Webb will be streamed on ESPN+. 

Harvard will start the weekend with a game against UT Chattanooga at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 3. On Saturday, March 4 they will face Detroit Mercy at 11 a.m. followed by a second game at Gardner-Webb at 3 p.m. The final day of competition on Sunday, March 5 will feature a 9 a.m. game against UT Chattanooga and an 11 a.m. game against Sacred Heart.

What to Know

• Harvard started the 2023 campaign last weekend at the Winthrop Garnet and Gold tournament, winning games over Fordham, North Carolina Central and Wintrop and falling to LIU and Winthrop to start the season 3-2. 
• Senior Allison Heffley was named Ivy League Player of the Week and junior Anna Reed was named Ivy League Pitcher of the Week in the conference's opening awards. 
• Harvard was led offensively throughout the weekend by Heffley, who had hits in every game. In two of the team's wins, she went 3-for-3 against Fordham with a double and a walk and then went 2-for-4 against North Carolina Central with a double and an RBI. She finished the weekend against LIU going 3-for-4 in the ballgame with a double, a home run and two RBI.
• In the season opener against Winthrop, Reed got the opening-game start, throwing 2.2 innings and striking out three hitters. In the Crimson's first win over Fordham, Reed picked up the victory out of the bullpen for Harvard. The right-hander went four shutout innings while giving up one hit, allowing no walks and striking out five. 
• First-year Finley Payne showed promise in her first weekend in Crimson, knocking in five runs and a home run off of six hits. 
• Harvard softball landed at no. 2 in the Ivy League preseason poll. The Crimson, which earned three first-place considerations, tallied 110 points total, finishing just behind reigning Ivy League Champion Princeton (13 votes, 125 points.) 
• The Ivy League runner-ups from the 2022 campaign return nearly all of its offensive production and pitching staff. Harvard is slated to return 90.2 percent of its stolen base total from last season, 86.5 percent of its doubles, 85.8 percent of its runs, 84.7 percent of its hits, 80.7 percent of its RBI and 75 percent of its home runs. In the circle, the Crimson returns its top five pitchers from '22 based on ERA and also welcomes back 274 of 276 of its innings pitched (99.3 percent), 140 of 141 of its strikeouts (99.3 percent) and 100 percent of its victories (22 of 22).
• Harvard trails UT Chattanooga 0-2 in the all-time series, falling to the opponent twice in 2003 and meeting them again for the first time in 20 years. 
• The Crimson won their one matchup against Detroit Mercy in 2017 by a score of 15-1. 
• The Crimson have yet to beat Gardner-Webb as they trail 0-2 from a two-game weekend in 2020 as they hope to get their first win on Saturday. 
• Harvard will meet Sacred Heart University for the first time ever on Sunday, March 5. 

Up Next

Harvard will head to Riverside Calif. for a weekend of competition hosted by California Baptist University with games against Syracuse, UC San Diego and CBU.