Harvard Sweeps Dartmouth, Big Green Can Still Clinch Division

Saturday, April 30

Cambridge, Mass.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

26-13, 0

Harvard

26-14, 0

Dartmouth

Harvard

Harvard Sweeps Dartmouth, Big Green Can Still Clinch Division

4/30/2016 7:03:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Dartmouth

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Dartmouth softball team fell to Harvard 4-3, before dropping Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader 6-5 in Cambridge.

The losses drop the Big Green to 26-14, 14-4 in the Ivy League, while the Crimson improve to 27-14, 15-3 in the conference.

In order for Dartmouth to clinch the North Division title, the Big Green will have to win both games in Hanover tomorrow when the regular season concludes on Senior Day.

In Game 1, Dartmouth sent its ace, senior Morgan McCalmon to the circle where she tossed a complete seven innings, surrendering four runs and one walk with five strikeouts to fall to 15-5 on the year.

After two scoreless innings, the Crimson struck first when Rhianna Rich hit a one out double to right field which scored two runs. The next batter was Maddy Kaplan, who hit her 11th homer of the year to right field, putting Harvard ahead 3-0.

The Big Green responded in the top of the fourth when freshman Morgan Martinelli hit her second double of the ball game to get into scoring positon. With one out, senior Katie McEachern singled up the middle to score Martinelli. After junior Karen Chaw was hit by a pitch, junior Maddie Damore smacked a double over the left fielder's head, which plated McEachern and cut the Harvard lead to just one run.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Crimson went back up by two runs after Kaplan singled up the middle, scoring Zoe Galindo from second.

With just one swing of the bat in the sixth it was a one-run game again when McEachern launched her league-leading 10th home run of the season into the parking lot in left field to close the gap to 4-3. The next three Dartmouth batters were retired in order leaving the Big Green with one last chance to tie or take the lead in the top of the seventh.

Freshman Kassidy Williams has been hot at the plate and pinch hit for sophomore Tiffany Dyson. Williams was hit by a pitch, but the Big Green could not bring her home as the next two batters were retired in order to end the game.

Sophomore Breanna Ethridge went to the circle in the second game of the afternoon doubleheader. The Loganville, Georgia native went three and two-third innings with four earned runs and three walks.

Dartmouth found itself in a familiar position with an early lead in the first inning. McEachern was hit by a pitch in the lead off spot and scored on Martinelli's single through the left side. Harvard responded in its bottom half of the inning, when Galindo scored off Kaplan's double down the left field line.

The Crimson added two more runs in the second after Elizabeth Shively walked and Savannah Bradley doubled to center field to score her teammate. Bradley advanced to third on a passed ball and scored when Rich singled up the middle to give the home team a 3-1 lead. The Big Green responded by tying the game 3-3 in third when sophomore Lourlin Lara smacked a triple down the right field line which scored McEachern. With one out, Chaw executed a perfect suicide-squeeze play, laying down a bunt single to score Lara.

Dartmouth retook the lead in the top of the fourth, as senior Kelsey Miller doubled to right field and scored when Lara singled up the middle. With her team ahead 4-3 in the bottom half of the inning, Ethridge managed to get the first two Crimson batters she faced to fly out to center field. After giving up an 11-pitch walk to Bradley, Kaitlyn Schiffhauer singled to left, as freshman Lauren Stone came in to pitch for the Big Green. The first batter Stone faced was Rich who doubled to left-center which plated two runs for Harvard.

Trailing 5-4, Dartmouth tied the game again when Damore led off with a triple and scored on Madill's sacrifice fly to right field. After Harvard put two runners in scoring position, the Big Green brought McCalmon back to the circle who managed to get out of the inning without allowing any runs.

The Crimson retook the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth as Rich hit a solo home run to right field off of McCalmon who took the loss to fall to 15-6. Dartmouth got two base runners in the top of the seventh, but the Big Green stranded both of them to end the game.

The Big Green and Crimson will square off for the North Division title tomorrow in Hanover with Game 1 scheduled to start at 2 p.m.