TEAM OF THE YEAR RUNNER-UP: Softball Captures Ivy Title

When asked in a preseason interview who the Ivy League favorite was, Harvard head coach Jenny Allard did not hesitate in saying, “I couldn’t go out and pick a team and say for sure that they are going to be in the Ivy Championship, other than us. I think us.”

Allard was right, of course.

The Harvard softball team (31-15, 14-6 Ivy) began the year playing in tournaments across the country and found success right off the bat.

Three weeks into its season, the Crimson won the Mercer Nisan Classic in Georgia. In the championship game, junior Danielle Kerper knocked in four RBI to help Harvard win a close 5-4 battle over Wright State.

From there, the Crimson rattled off a 23-9 record, including a stretch in which it went 14-1. Coming into the final weekend of play against Dartmouth, Harvard found itself atop the Ivy League North Division, leading the Big Green by just one game. The Crimson won three of four to clinch the division.

The following weekend, Harvard hosted Penn in the Ivy League Championship series. The best-of-three series ended after the Crimson took the first two games, 4-0 and 4-2.

For the team’s four seniors, it was the perfect way to end a career at Soldiers Field.

“I felt that in seasons past, we played like we had something to lose,” junior pitcher Shelly Madick said. “This season, we just focused on playing our best.”

Although Harvard bowed out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, a crop of strong returning players suggests that the Crimson will be back again soon.

—Staff writer Julia R. Senior can be reached at jrsenior@fas.harvard.edu.