Harvard Softball Sweeps Cornell to Capture 2011
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Harvard Varsity Club NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Sports Volume 53 Issue No. 7 www.harvardvarsityclub.org May 20, 2011 A Night to Remember: 2011 Hall of Fame Dinner There are three qualifications an athlete must adhere to in order to by Melissa Schellberg ’10 be considered for the Hall of Fame: Special Assistant, Harvard Varsity Club 1. He or she must have been a graduate of the college for at On Friday, May 6, five of Harvard’s finest athletes were least 15 years. inducted into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame. The Hall 2. He or she must have excelled for multiple years in a sport of Fame is home to Harvard athletes who achieved the highest of while an undergraduate at Harvard. success in a sport while an undergraduate. On average, only three 3. He or she must have achieved greatness in a sport at the percent of letterwinners in each sport are time when competing at Harvard. inducted into the Hall of Fame, making Approximately thirty athletes are the feat one of the greatest honors an nominated for review each year. Anyone, athlete can receive. including friends, classmates, family, or This year, the Varsity Club wel- fans of Harvard Athletics can nominate comed five new inductees to the Hall of a Harvard athlete. From this larger list Fame: Gregory Chang ’96-97 (Fencing), of extraordinary athletes, the committee Vanya Desai ’93 (Squash), Kate Felsen must select only the cream of the crop who Di Pietro ’88 (Lacrosse), Michael J. Eckert deserve a spot in the annals of Harvard ’96 (Lacrosse), and Amy E. Reinhard Athletics. ’96 (Softball). These five inductees are Emceeing the dinner for the second nothing less than exceptional, winning time in a row was Mike Giardi ’94, 2009 a combined five Ivy League Champion- Hall of Fame Inductee for football and ships, one team National Championship, baseball. With his unending charisma, two individual National Championships, Mike drove home the point of the incred- three Ivy League Players of the Year, ible honor these athletes should feel after one All-New England Player of the Year, being inducted into such an elite program. seven All-America selections, and nine In addition to emcee Giardi, two other First Team All-Ivy League selections. Hall of Famers were present to support the The Hall of Fame Selection Com- 2011 Hall of Fame Inductees (l-r): Kate Felsen Di incoming class: Larry Cetrulo ’71 (fencing) mittee meets multiple times each year to Pietro, Mike Eckert, Vanya Desai, Amy Reinhard, and Tammy Battaglino ’95 (basketball). determine which Harvard athletes are and Greg Chang Around 85 people attended the dinner most deserving to join this elite group. including friends, family, coaches, and Continued on page 6 Harvard Softball sweeps Cornell to capture 2011 Ivy League Championship by Jeff Selesnick twirling a two-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts in the team’s first Assistant Director of Athletic Communications game, a 2-0 win over Seton Hall at the Florida Atlantic Tourna- ment. The Crimson took three of five games in Florida and won A year ago Saturday, the Harvard softball team was on the its first three games at the UC Riverside tourney the following outside looking in. A miraculous Harvard comeback in Game 2 weekend. The Crimson typically sees some of its toughest compe- of the Ivy League Championship Series forced a decisive Game 3 tition during its spring break trip; teams that have played twice between the North Division champion Crimson and South Divi- the amount of games as Harvard. sion winner Cornell. But a wind-aided homer by the host Big Red Every spring break trip includes one or two humbling losses, sealed a 3-2 win in the rubber match. A year in which Harvard set but on the flight home from San Diego March 19, the Crimson a new record for Ivy League wins, buoyed by a tight-knit sextet of stood at 8-8 and had not lost any game by more than four runs. seniors, ended in disappointment on a cold, windy day in Ithaca. Senior co-captain Ellen Macadam put together a 13-game hit It’s never easy to streak, rookie Lange predict how a team had the team lead with will gel at the start of 12 RBI in 16 games and the season. The infield- Brown ended the trip ers looked sharp in with a 15-strikeout, the Harvard Stadium one-hit shutout in a 1-0 bubble in the begin- win over San Diego. ning of February, and Harvard had done the outfielders were more than just survive dialed in on a plowed the West coast swing; off square of the field it proved it could hang hockey turf at the first with anyone, it proved outdoor practice, but it could produce runs questions lingered and it proved it could heading into the 2011 play defense. squad’s first game. The confidence Could rookie Laura gained on the first two Ricciardone step in as trips was essential as the team’s No. 2 starter the Crimson had just with the graduation of Margaux Black ’10? Would veteran Mari eight games to get accustomed to the cold Northeast weather Zumbro ’12 or freshman Kasey Lange step in for all-time assists before the Ivy League schedule began. Head coach Jenny Allard leader Melissa Schellberg ’10 at third? Like the start of any New collected her 400th career victory in the team’s first game back, a England softball season, it was trial by fire for the 2011 Crimson, 2-1 win over local foe Boston University. A sweep of Quinnipiac but pieces quickly fell into place as the team grew stronger with and a split at Iona brought Harvard to its first home action where each game. it dismantled Rhode Island in two mercy-rule-shortened games. Junior pitcher Rachel Brown kick-started the 2011 campaign, The Ivy schedule awaited and the Crimson was raring to go. Continued on page 4 Spring Sports Recaps By: Bobby Samuels ’14, Crimson Sports Editor Baseball (17-26, 10-10 Ivy League) Women’s Water Polo (12-12) • The Harvard baseball team ended its season on May 1 with a • Women’s water polo placed fifth in the CWPA Eastern Cham- 10-8 loss to Dartmouth at O’Donnell Field. Overall, the Crimson pionship, the team’s best performance since 2005. Harvard split finished in fourth place in the Red Rolfe Division. its four tournament contests, beating Gannon and Bucknell but • After missing most of 2009 and 2010 to injury, Max Perlman losing to Indiana and Princeton. ’11 emerged as the ace of the pitching staff, and his 1.80 ERA • Co-captain and team MVP Devan Kennifer ’12 and Monica was the lowest in the Ivy League. Named to the All-Ivy League Zdrojewski ’12 led the team in goals over the season, finding First Team, Perlman delivered perhaps the year’s best pitching the back of the net 72 and 60 times, respectively. The Price sisters outing against Yale, when he struck out 10 Bulldogs en route to a –Aisha ‘13 and Shayna ‘14 – also got in on the scoring action, complete game shutout. with 87 goals between the two of them. • Two players – Jack Colton ’14 and Jeff Reynolds ’12 – finished • Laurel McCarthy ’12 and Shami Entenman ’11 split time in the year hitting above .300. Colton led the team in on-base per- goal, with McCarthy tallying 184 saves and Entenman with 46. centage (.375) and slugging percentage (.435), while Reynolds, was second overall in homeruns (2) and RBI (19), and also earned Women’s Heavyweight Crew (4-7) First Team All-Ivy accolades. • Radcliffe won the Beanpot team banner for the fifth time in as many years on Apr. 30, easily besting MIT, Northeastern, Boston Women’s Golf University, and Boston College. The then-No. 13 varsity eight • After a disappointing eighth place finish in the spring’s first won with a time of 6:43.9, while the second varsity eight also tournament, the women’s golf team clicked in the subsequent finished first, beating second-place finisher Northeastern by 12.8 match, placing second at the Spring Brown Bear Invitational. The seconds. team’s performance carried over into the Ivy League Champion- • The Black and White heads south this weekend to race at the ships, when the team again finished second, losing to champion EAWRC Sprints in Camden, N.J. The regatta has large implica- Yale by just four strokes. tions for the NCAA Championships, which will take place on • Captain Mia Kabasakalis ’11 (pictured) ended her Harvard May 27 in Sacramento, Calif. career on a high note. After shooting a career-low -2 on Apr. 11, Kabasakalis finished second individually in the Ivy League Men’s Golf Championships, earning her First Team All-Ivy honors. Chris- • The Harvard men’s golf team earned the golf program’s first tine Cho ’12 was named to victory of the season at the Century Intercollegiate on Apr. 16-17. the Second Team All-Ivy Seiji Liu ’14 finished first of the 45 golfers in the tournament’s for finishing tenth in the field. But the team couldn’t keep the momentum going into the championships. Ivy League Championships, placing sixth. • After tallying the lowest • After winning the Yale Spring Opener, Mark Pollak ’12 average score in the team’s finished tied for 11th at the Ivy Championships at +20, good for history (75.55), Bonnie Hu Second Team All-Ivy. Theo Lederhausen ’14, the team’s scoring ’14 qualified for the NCAA leader throughout the season, finished just one shot behind central regional.