Harvard had built a 1-0 lead in the third on an unearned run instigated by Brown and set the decisive margin with an insurance run in the fifth on an RBI single from senior Beth Sabin.

PRINCETON 9, HARVARD 0

Following the high of its dramatic game one victory, Harvard suffered a letdown against the Tigers in game two. Princeton mercy-ruled the Crimson in five innings, regaining its hitting stroke after lying dormant in the opener.

While freshman Kristen Schaus (10-6) baffled the Harvard hitters, permitting only four hits and striking out seven in her five innings of work, the Tigers followed the curious and effective pattern of scoring a quantity of runs equal to the number of the inning.

The Crimson threw a string of pitchers at Princeton, each one futile against the energized Tigers. McAteer got the start, giving up three earned runs in 1 2/3, Watkins allowed two more runs pitching to five batters, and sophomore Becky Voaklander surrendered four runs over the final two frames.

Senior Lauren Stefanchik went 2-for-3 for Harvard in the loss, and juniors Erin Halpenny and Rachel Murray also picked up hits.

HARVARD 1, PRINCETON 0 (10)

In a game that may well turn out to be a microcosm of the Crimson’s season, the first game of the Saturday double-header with Princeton featured inspired play and went right down to the wire.

The ace hurlers from the Ivy League’s first and second-place teams went head-to-head for nine scoreless innings, until senior Beth Sabin cracked a solo home run in the top of the 10th that held up for the winning margin.

Sabin was 3-for-4 in the game, providing the Crimson’s lone three hits, and launched a drive over the wall for its lone run.

While Sabin’s burst of offense proved crucial, the real story was the pair of pitchers, dueling throughout regulation and into extra innings, trading strikeouts and scarcely allowing hits.

Madick carried a no-hitter into the tenth, until she allowed back-to-back singles with one out. Protecting the slimmest of leads, Harvard coach Jenny Allard lifted Madick and went to the bullpen for the closer.

Voaklander then eliminated the lead runner at third base on a ground ball back to the box, before allowing a single up the middle. But junior co-captain Kerry Flaherty cut down the runner trying to score at the plate and Madick’s 15-strikeout win was preserved.

Princeton junior Erin Snyder—who went on to hurl a perfect game against Dartmouth yesterday—was equally stingy, surrendering only Sabin’s trio of knocks and striking out an Ivy League season-high 21 batters.

In many ways, the match-up featured the Ancient Eight’s top hurler of the present—Snyder stands at 13-3 and leads the conference with a 0.72 ERA—and its prospective star pitcher of the future in Madick, who has now picked up the win in four of Crimson’s six Ivy victories.

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.