University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Harvard
Softball Takes Two From Harvard
April 19, 2001 | Softball
April 19, 2001
AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Massachusetts softball team extended its winning streak to 22 games with a hard-fought sweep of Harvard, 4-3 and 4-2, this afternoon at the UMass Softball Complex. UMass improves to 28-9 on the year, while Harvard falls to 14-18.
In game one, UMass jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings, and held off a three-run Harvard rally in the top of the sixth for the 4-3 victory. Brandi Cross (Diamond Bar, Calif.) and Ashley Bakken (Phoenix, Ariz.) each hit run-scoring singles in the first inning, while Scooter Wheeler (Kingsburg, Calif.) smacked her fifth home run of the year to lead off the third. Bakken, who scored later in the third inning on an infield error, finished the game 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Pitcher Jen Hadley (Bristol, Conn.), who has won four of the last six games on the mound for UMass, improved to 10-5 on the year. She allowed eight hits and walked one, while fanning five batters.
The Minutewomen had to play comeback ball in game two, as they needed three runs in the bottom of the fifth to get the win, 4-2. After Harvard scored single runs in the first and third innings, UMass responded with a single tally in the fourth on Kaila Holtz' (North Vancouver, BC) third home run of the year to cu the lead to 2-1.
In the fifth inning, lead-off hitter Anna Perey (Chino Valley, Ariz.) walked and was sacraficed to second by Emily Robustelli (Stamford, Conn.). Teri Rooney (Visalia, Calif.) then singled home Perey to tie the game at 2-2. After Cross was hit by a pitch, Wheeler singled to right field but the ball trickled under the fielder's glove all the way to the wall. Both Rooney and pinch runner Aisha Franke (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored, and the Minutewomen had the lead at 4-2.
Carrie Jeffries (Placentia, Calif.) went the distance on the mound for UMass, scattering nine hits and striking out four to up her record to 8-3 on the season.
UMass returns to the diamond on Saturday, April 21, for an important doubleheader with Atlantic 10 conference foe Dayton at the UMass Softball Complex. Game one is scheduled to begin at 12 noon.
