Completed Event: Softball versus Harvard on April 25, 2025 , Loss , 2, to, 10 , (8 inn.)
Final
Softball
vs Harvard
2
10
Scott Shirrell ’04
This Day in Dartmouth History: May 4
5/4/2020 2:00:00 PM | Baseball, Equestrian, Softball, Athletics
May 4, 2002 — Scott Shirrell '04 sets baseball records with 14 RBIs and 15 total bases in a game
Entering the final weekend of the season, the outlook for Dartmouth winning a third straight Rolfe Division crown was bleak. The Big Green needed not only a four-game sweep of Harvard to tie the Crimson in the standings, but also had to get some help from Yale against Brown to set up a playoff scenario.
Opening the series in Cambridge, Dartmouth exploded for 25 runs in the first game — the seven-inning game — with a performance for the ages from sophomore Scott Shirrell '04. The Big Green left fielder had five hits in the contest with a single, double and three home runs — tying the school record set just four years prior — that gave him 15 total bases as well a whopping 14 RBIs. Only one player in the history of Division I baseball has driven in more runs in a single game.
But Shirrell wasn't the only player to put up some big numbers in that contest; future Miami Marlin Ed Lucas '04 was a perfect 4-for-4 with a triple, two walks, three runs and an RBI. Future Philadelphia Phillies general manager Matt Klentak '02 went 4-for-5 at the bottom of the order with a walk, three runs and two RBIs. Freshman catcher Jeff Speights '05 banged out three singles and drove in three, while he and sophomore second baseman Cooper Chapin both matched Shirrell by scoring four times.
Lost in the 23-hit attack was sophomore Tim Grant '04 tossing a three-hitter on the mound in the 25-1 triumph — the largest margin of victory in a league game in program history — on his way to earning second-team All-Ivy honors. Shirrell would make the first team for the second of three times in his career, and he was joined by Lucas and junior first baseman Mike Mileusnic that season.
Unfortunately for the Big Green, the blowout did not lead to a series sweep as Harvard came back in the second game to take a 5-1 victory, eliminating Dartmouth from the race. But Shirrell's day at the plate will remain the stuff of legends.
May 4, 2014 — Softball wins decisive game of the ILCS for first Ivy League title
After losing to Penn in the Ivy League Championship Series the year prior in Philadelphia, Dartmouth entered game three of the 2014 ILCS against those same Quakers in Hanover with a chance at redemption and its first title in program history. The Big Green left no doubt in front of a sold-out Dartmouth Softball Park, defeating Penn, 7-3, behind a strong pitching performance from junior Kristen Rumley '15 and a monster five-run sixth inning.
Rumley threw a complete game in which she allowed three earned runs on five hits and struck out eight batters with only one walk. Penn scored once in the third and two more crossed the plate in the fourth on back-to-back singles to take a 3-0 advantage.
Running low on opportunities, senior Kara Curosh '14 gave Dartmouth life with a one-out, two-run home run in the fifth to make it a one-run game.
Rumley worked a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts in the top of the sixth, and the Big Green exploded for five runs in the home half. Consecutive walks to start the inning brought up Rumley, who gave the Big Green the lead for good with a two-run double. The momentum continued as another run scored on a wild pitch followed by a single by sophomore Katie McEachern '16 to plate two more and extend the lead to 7-3. Rumley made that lead hold up by retiring the side in order on a fly ball to left sandwiched between two comebackers.
Dartmouth's 18-2 record in Ivy League play that year remains its best to date, and the team was 31-19 for the season, topping 30 wins for just the second time in program history (32 in 2000).
May 4, 2014 — Baseball defeats Yale in playoff game for seventh consecutive Rolfe Division title
Much like the 2002 squad, the 2014 version of the Big Green faced a tough road if they were going to defend a streak of division titles. With six games left in the conference season, Dartmouth was just 5-9 but thankfully only trailed Yale by two games in the standings. It was then that the Green hit their stride winning the last two games at Brown, then sweeping a four-game series from Harvard to catch the Bulldogs and finish the regular season tied at the top with identical 11-9 marks.
Because Dartmouth had won the season series from Yale, three games to one, it earned the right to host the Rolfe Division playoff game on this date six years ago. Head coach Bob Whalen sent sophomore right-hander Beau Sulser '16 — 3-4 on the season — to the mound to match up against Bulldog righty Chris Lanham (7-1). Sulser was touched for one run in the second, but was one out from escaping further damage when a pitch he threw was wild, allowing another run to score and sending him writhing in pain. His afternoon (and, as it turned out, the 2015 season due to Tommy John surgery) was done and left the Green bullpen to cover the final seven-plus stanzas.
The bullpen, in this case, was sophomore right-hander Duncan Robinson '16, who later was named the All-Ivy League First Team reliever. He promptly got the third out on a called strike to strand a runner at third, and the bats took over in the third as seven runs crossed the plate. Sophomore Nick Ruppert '16 drove in the first run with a single, sophomore Joe Purritano '16 and junior Nick Lombardi '15 both delivered two-run hits with a single and a triple, respectively, and junior Bo Patterson '15 capped the rally with an RBI single.
The score remained 7-2 in favor of the Big Green until Yale popped a two-run homer in the seventh, shrinking the Dartmouth lead down to three. Robinson finished the inning having thrown 5.1. innings of two-run relief, allowing four hits and a walk while fanning four. The offense made sure the Bulldogs would not bite back, adding four insurance runs in the eighth, capped by a Lombardi two-run blast. Senior Louis Concato '14 issued just one walk over the final two innings to record his first save of the season and only one of his career as the Big Green clinched their seventh straight Rolfe Division title with the 11-4 victory.
May 4, 2019 — Erin McCarthy-Keeler '19 wins a national championship in Equestrian
Just four years after winning its first national title in program history, the Dartmouth equestrian team once again saw one of its own atop the podium in the McDonald Scholarship Challenge in 2019.
Erin McCarthy-Keeler '19 won the title, placing first in a field of over 300 student-athletes from across the country who competed in the Challenge. The top-16 advanced to a hands-on practicum test before the Big Green senior claimed the title.
For Dartmouth, this marked the third national champion in the McDonald Scholarship Challenge since 2016 as Anna Knowles '16 won in her final two seasons as a member of the team.
McCarthy-Keeler had finished seventh in the competition in both 2016 and 2017, respectively, before finally getting over the hump to win the title as a senior.
The McDonald Scholarship Championship is a test on horsemanship and related equine topics and is open to all IHSA undergraduate members.
Players Mentioned
Inter
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Softball Postgame vs Penn 4.11.25
Friday, April 11
Jen Williams postgame vs. Harvard, May 10, 2024
Friday, May 10
Softball Postgame vs. Yale, Ivy Tournament, May 9, 2024
Thursday, May 09
