In a year of moments for Dartmouth sports that included a last-second layup that ultimately knocked the Yale University men’s basketball team out of qualification for its first NCAA tournament since 1962 and the only shutout victory of the season over the then-No. 1 men’s hockey team in the nation Boston University, one moment ultimately stood above the rest to the readers of The D.
After we released the nominees for The Dartmouth Sports Award best moment of the year last Friday, readers submitted 123 votes and named the no-hitter thrown by Kristen Rumley ’15 the best moment of the year. Rumley’s all-time great softball performance earned 54 percent of the total vote.
No-hitters do not happen very often. The Dartmouth softball program has only recorded five in its entire history, three of which — including Rumley’s — have come against Columbia University. No-hitters are so rare because they require the combination of a flawless team defense and a deadly pitcher on the mound performing in perfect sync.
This year, the softball team had both of those ingredients and got the recipe just right against the Lions in the first game of a Saturday afternoon doubleheader on March 28.
In a game that the Big Green won 8-0, Rumley struck out nine batters across six innings. More than 75 percent of Rumley’s pitches on the afternoons were strikes, and she allowed only one base on balls — a walk that cost Rumley a perfect game. The team backed Rumley up in the field with no errors on the afternoon.
The same recipe for success that led to the no-hitter on that afternoon was demonstrated over the course of softball’s entire spring season — one that saw the team win its second consecutive Ivy League title and Rumley her third Ivy League Pitcher of the Year award.
Rumley’s no-hitter won out over the other nominees, which included the men’s hockey team’s upset win over then-No. 1 BU, the men’s basketball team’s late upset over Yale, the football team’s late touchdown for the win over Yale and the women’s tennis team’s first ever NCAA tournament win.
Last year, the football team’s home win over Princeton University in its season finale was voted the best moment of Dartmouth sports for the 2013-2014 season after it collected 38 percent of the total vote.
