Dartmouth softball lost a heartbreaker to the University of Pennsylvania at the Ivy Championship Series in three games, missing a chance for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
The Big Green (26-20, 15-5 Ivy) split Saturday's doubleheader, losing the first game 1-0 and winning the second 6-2, forcing a decisive third game on Sunday that the Quakers (30-18, 16-4 Ivy) won 3-2.
"I'm proud of the way we played," Megan Averitt '15 said. "We started strong and we fought hard, but in the end, a couple things didn't break the way we wanted them to."
Game one developed into a pitcher's duel between Kristen Rumley '15 and Penn's Alexis Borden as both pitched a complete game. In seven innings, Borden struck out 11 Dartmouth batters and allowed only one hit, while Rumley allowed only four hits over six innings with five strikeouts.
Penn scored their only run on a single in the second inning, which ultimately proved to be the winning run.
Kelsey Miller '16 earned Dartmouth's only hit in the third inning, but was left stranded after a strikeout and groundout ended the inning.
Hillary Hubert '13 came close to tying the game twice. In the fourth inning, Hubert nailed a line drive to second base but Penn's Samantha Erosa made a fully extended catch to get the out. Then in the seventh inning, Hubert crushed a shot to center field that stayed in the air long enough for Penn to make the catch.
Rumley was Dartmouth's bright spot following the loss, as she became Dartmouth's single-season strikeout leader and overtook the top spot on the career list with 185 strikeouts.
Both teams' offense returned for game two, even with Rumley and Borden back in the circle. This time, only Rumley went the distance with seven strikeouts, five hits, two runs and a walk.
Borden pitched the first five innings but was relieved by Lauren Li midway through the sixth. Borden finished the game with three strikeouts, seven hits, six runs and two walks.
The scoring started in the first inning, with Dartmouth taking an early 1-0 lead after Averitt scored on an obstruction call from the home plate umpire. Dartmouth increased its lead in the third inning when Averitt scored again off of a Katie McEachern '16 double.
The lead was short-lived as Penn scored twice in the fourth inning with a two-run homer over the left-centerfield wall.
The scoring died down until the bottom of the sixth, when Katie Adams '13 nailed a three-run home run to left center, putting Dartmouth ahead for good with a 5-2 lead. Kathy Dzienkowski '16 added a home run of her own, extending Dartmouth's lead to 6-2. Dartmouth won after Rumley retired the Quakers in the seventh inning, forcing a third game. With the win, Rumley also tied the Dartmouth single-season win record with 22.
Both teams continued generating hits and runs from the first inning in game three on Sunday. Dartmouth scored right off the bat, when Rumley reached home after Borden walked McCalmon with the bases loaded. Borden avoided putting Penn in an even deeper hole by striking out Dzienkowski and stranding three runners on base.
Dartmouth scored again in the second inning when Miller crossed the plate on a Rumley single. Penn responded at the bottom of the inning when Jessica Melendez scored off of a Georgia Guttadauro single to center field.
Rumley and Borden prevented either offense from scoring for the next two innings, until Rumley ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Penn's Erosa scored on an error when McEachern couldn't cleanly field a grounder at short, only to underthrow McCalmon at first base and allow Penn to tie the game. Guttadauro nailed a home run over the left field wall, placing Penn in the lead 3-2. McCalmon then relieved Rumley to retire the remaining batter.
McCalmon held the Penn offense in check, allowing only two hits and a walk with three strikeouts over two and two-thirds innings of work. Borden threw a complete game, allowing eight hits, two runs and two walks with eight strikeouts.
A couple of controversial moments occurred at the bottom of the fourth inning, when Penn's Brooke Coloma was caught stealing third base. The third base umpire was out of position, but ruled that Coloma was out. This turned out to be a blessing for Dartmouth when Guttadauro hit a home run that scored only one instead of a two. Before Guttadauro's home run, she hit a line drive down the first base line that appeared fair but was ruled foul.
Dartmouth threatened to tie the game a couple times with two runners left on base in the fifth and sixth, but they were unable to convert their opportunities.
"We're proud of how we played," McCalmon said. "We played our best. We started out the year good and the team got even better as the season progressed. We'll do even better next year, as we have a really strong core group of players and a great group of freshmen, but we will miss our seniors."
With the series win, Penn earned an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament and will continue playing next weekend, while Dartmouth is forced to wait and see whether it will receive an entry. Dartmouth will likely be left out of this year's tournament.
"We won't be receiving a bid this year because we're ranked too low," coach Rachel Hanson said. "But we will be able to make a strong push next year and hopefully win the Ivy League."
