Although Shaw can lead her team with her bat and glove, some of her biggest contributions come from her personality and leadership style.

“One of the most amazing things about Whitney...is that she doesn’t take herself too seriously,” Allard commented. “We want her to be vocal and to know our defensive system, but also we want her to keep the team loose and confident. She has a great sense of humor...but also a wisdom and a perspective about her that’s really healthy, so people look for her and trust her a great deal.”

“[Shaw] never shows if she’s struggling,” added Brown. “If you’re feeling nervous, you can turn to her and she can settle you down.”

But despite the powerful duo of Shaw and Brown, the Crimson fell just short of its ultimate goal last year: an Ivy League title. Harvard was able to fight its way to the best-of-three Championship series against Cornell, but suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 loss in the final game.

Shaw hit a game-tying home run to even the game at two, but the Crimson never recovered after a Big Red rally.

Because of her success behind the plate in the last two seasons, Allard and Shaw expect that opposing pitchers may change their strategy, throwing her tougher pitches or fewer strikes, forcing her to hit less.

But neither coach nor player seems worried.

“Pitchers will obviously adjust, but at the same time, we’ve been focusing in practice working on counts and staying aggressive,” Shaw said. “We’re going with the mentality to not give the pitchers enough time to change their style, just attack early... and force them to throw strikes.”

“[Pitchers] know her now and will be tougher... but she’s capable,” Allard added. “She’s been driving the ball pretty hard in practice...and our pitchers have even had a hard time facing her too.”

So, unlike mighty Casey of Mudville, who struck out when his team needed him most, Whitney Shaw looks poised to continue leading Harvard from the plate.

In short, as Brown said: “I feel sorry for the other pitchers.”

—Staff writer B. Marjorie Gullick can be reached at gullick@college.harvard.edu.