In a span of a little more than an hour in Hanover yesterday, Dartmouth pulled off dramatic – and essential – victories over Harvard thanks to walk-off home runs.
First it was the softball team, which dropped the opener of its doubleheader in extra innings but kept the heat on Harvard in the North Division race thanks to a blast off the bat of Kelsey Miller in the bottom of the seventh inning of the nightcap that gave the Big Green a 2-1 win. Harvard is now 14-1 in the Ivy League and Dartmouth 16-2.
The Big Green and Crimson make up Saturday's rained-out doubleheader today in Cambridge. A sweep by either team would give the winning team a berth in the Ivy League Championship Series. Should the teams split, Harvard would then have to make up games against Cornell (a doubleheader) and, perhaps, Penn. A single Harvard loss in one of those games would bring about a one-game playoff with Dartmouth for the bid to the ILCS. Two losses and Dartmouth would move on. LINK
The baseball situation is simpler. After opening with a 4-2 win over Harvard yesterday, the Big Green used a two-run Matt Parisi homer in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Crimson, 3-1. Dartmouth is now 9-9 in the Ivy League. Yale, which swept Brown yesterday by taking the nightcap in the bottom of the ninth, sits atop the North standings at 11-9. Dartmouth which would have been eliminated with a loss in either game yesterday, still needs another sweep of Saturday's rained-out twinbill tomorrow at Harvard to force a one-game playoff in Hanover at week's end for the right to go to the ILCS. LINK
Dartmouth is bidding for its seventh-consecutive division title under longtime head coach Bob Whalen, who last week won his 500th game with the Big Green. Check out the Boston Globe for a story about Whalen, who is fourth all-time in wins by Ivy League coaches. LINK
