In a tune-up for a big weekend against league-leading Princeton, Harvard dropped both games of a doubleheader against Massachusetts on a wind-swept Soldiers Field.

The Crimson (18-6, 4-0) lost the second game 2-1 in extra innings after dropping the opener 9-3, ending its 10-game winning streak.

Harvard dropped to 0-11-1 all-time against the Minutewomen (30-10), but came about as close to beating UMass in the second game as it ever has before.

UMass 2, Harvard 1 (8 inn.)

Harvard found itself embroiled in a pitchers’ duel with Minutewomen ace Jennifer Hadley, a senior sporting a 0.82 ERA with 69 strikeouts.

“Their pitchers are good,” said Harvard Coach Jenny Allard. “They’re the best we’ve seen. They had good speed, good movement.”

After seven innings of play, the score was still knotted at 1-1. As per international tie-breaking rules, a runner was placed at second to begin the extra frame. A Minutewomen sacrifice bunt back to sophomore Kara Brotemarkle put a runner on third with one out. Freshman Hilary Puglia stepped up for UMass and singled to right to score the go-ahead run.

Down by one in the bottom of the eighth, the Crimson sent junior tri-captain Tiffany Whitton to the plate. Though Whitton is the team RBI leader, Allard gave her the bunt sign, and she executed perfectly, sending then official runner to third.

“Tiff was bunting because we needed to have a runner on third for a shot to win,” Allard explained. “You get a runner on third, you just need a little ground ball, a passed ball, Koppel hits a fly ball, we score. In that situation it’s always a debate what to do. We’ve gone back and forth, sometimes we bunt, sometimes we hit.”

The Crimson’s gamble went UMass’s way, as the Minutewomen got two quick outs to end the contest and give Brotemarkle her second loss. After the game, Allard admitted that if she could do it over again, she would have let Whitton swing away.

Before Crimson starter Suzanne Guy even got to the mound, the Crimson had gotten her a run.

Freshman leadoff extraordinaire Lauren Stefanchik started the rally with an infield single, and promptly stole second. Tri-captain Lisa Watanabe matched Stefanchik’s hit, and the bases were loaded when Whitton was plunked by a Hadley offering.

With no outs, tri-captain Sarah Koppel singled in Stefanchik, but the Crimson rally stopped there. Hadley struck out the next three batters.

The Crimson netted only one run, and lack of aggression was part of the problem.