CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Dartmouth Big Green softball team banged out a season-high 16 hits in the second game of a doubleheader at Harvard on Saturday, defeating the Crimson, 11-6, to salvage a split at Soldiers Field. Harvard took the opener, 4-1, leaving the two teams tied for second in the Ivy League standings at 12-5 with the rubber match to come tomorrow. Dartmouth improved to 18-22 on the season while the Crimson remained one game above .500 at 18-17.
Freshman
Alaana Panu was only a single shy of the cycle in the Big Green win, beginning the scoring with a two-run homer in the first, lining an RBI double in the fourth and legging out a triple in the seventh to go 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs. Senior
Emily Lipsett also had three hits, scored twice and drove in two, and senior
Billie McFadyen was 2-for-4 with her fourth homer of the year, three runs and a pair of RBIs.
After Panu connected on her two-run blast, junior
Kate Farren followed with a solo shot for back-to-back homers and a 3-0 lead. Meanwhile in the circle, senior
Madie Augusto faced the minimum through three innings as her defense erased the lone hit by turning a double play to end the third.
Harvard's third pitcher of the game, Lindsay Poulos, took over to start the fourth, and allowed one-out singles to Lipsett and McFadyen before Panu lined her double off the left-field fence. Farren followed with a sacrifice fly to center, boosting the Dartmouth lead to 5-0.
The Crimson got to Augusto in the fourth with two singles and a two-run double off the bat of Morgan Melito. None of the next three hitters hit the ball past Augusto but still managed to push another run across on a squeeze bunt by Teagan Shaw to make it a 5-3 game.
The Big Green bats went right back to work, loading the bases on an error sandwiched between two singles. Junior
Maria Angelino then lined an RBI single, and Lipsett drove in two with a single to left-center, ending Poulos' afternoon.
In the bottom half, Harvard matched those three runs against freshman reliever
Megan Hagge to close the gap to two again, the first scoring on a throwing error. Melito drove in another run with her second double of the day and season, and Madi Mays hit a sacrifice fly.
McFadyen gave Dartmouth some breathing room in the seventh with a two-run round-tripper, and Panu tripled and scored on
Leila Hennessy's single for a five-run lead at 11-6.
Harvard wouldn't go quietly, however, loading the base with one out. Hagge kept her cool and induced Melito to hit a comebacker which the rookie turned into a home-to-first double play to end the game for his second save.
Augusto (4-2) got the win with her four-inning start, allowing three runs on four hits with nary a walk nor strikeout. Katie Arrambide (5-7) took the loss after not getting out of the first.
In the first game, Harvard's Anna Reed was given a 2-0 lead in the first on a Mays two-run double. The score remained that way throughout Reed's 5.2 innings of scoreless work, allowing three hits and striking out three along the way. But when the Big Green loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, the Crimson summoned Arrambide from the bullpen, and she got a fly ball to keep Dartmouth off the board.
In the bottom half, Harvard got another two-run double, this time off courtesy of Kaitlin Lampson, doubling the Crimson lead to 4-0.
The Big Green avoided the shutout in the seventh after putting runners on the corners. Freshman
Jenna Brown took off for second but was thrown out, allowing Hennessy to score from third.
Reed improved to 11-5 on the season while Arrambide earned her second save.
Senior
Brooke Plonka (11-11) allowed three runs on three hits and four walks while fanning four in suffering the loss.
Sunday's game will be streamed on ESPN+ at 12:30 p.m. and shown via tape delay on NESN at 7 p.m. The winner of the game will take over sole possession of second place with three games to play and own the tiebreaker over the other as both teams vie to qualify for the Ivy League Championship Series on May 13-14. Only the top two teams in the league standings will play in the best-of-three series.