The Crimson rallied for three runs in three different innings to lead B-CU by as many as nine runs in its first game on Wednesday afternoon.
Harvard jumped to an early 3-0 lead on a string of hits in the top of the first inning. Three consecutive singles by Lantz, junior shortstop Emily Gusse, and Lange put the Crimson on the board. Hume followed with a double to left to score Gusse and move Lange to third. Lange crossed the plate for Harvard’s third run of the inning on a fielder’s choice.
Lange went three-for-three with three RBI’s and two runs scored to pace the Crimson offense. With a hit in both games on Wednesday afternoon, Lange extended her early-season hitting streak to fourteen games.
“I’ve been focusing on putting good swings on good pitches,” Lange said. “My goal is to be a consistently tough out for the other team and I plan on keeping that mentality going into Ivy League play.”
Sophomore Morgan Groom retired the first 12 batters she faced, keeping the Wildcats hitless until the fifth inning. Groom finished the afternoon with a season-best nine strikeouts.
B-CU freshman Sabrina Anguiano surrendered three walks to set up another scoring opportunity for the Crimson in the third. A single by freshman catcher Lindsey Hagberg and an error by the Wildcats’ center fielder capped the three-run inning for Harvard.
Although the Crimson finished with only one more hit than B-CU in the game, Harvard was much more successful at manufacturing runs with an average of .500 with RISP compared to the Wildcats average of .273.
Walks continued to plague B-CU’s pitching, as freshman reliever Bailey Conner put three Crimson on before giving up a two-RBI double to Lange that extended Harvard’s lead to nine.
The Wildcats fought back in the bottom of the sixth with a series of hits. After two quick singles, senior second baseman Kelsey Rodney hit a double to center to knock in both runs. Still with no outs in the inning, freshman third baseman Kaitlin Alamprese launched a home run over the center field fence to tighten the score, 9-4.
Junior Gabrielle Ruiz came on to pitch in relief. After a passed ball and error by shortstop Gusse allowed two B-CU runners to reach base, Ruiz battled back with a strikeout and two forced groundouts to halt the Lions scoring in the sixth.
B-CU threatened again with first and third and just one out in the bottom of the seventh, but a strikeout and infield pop-up ended the team’s hopes and sealed a 9-4 victory for the Crimson.