PRINCETON, N.J. — Thanks to a pair of complete-game shutouts by senior left-hander Brooke Plonka, the Dartmouth College softball team won two of three at league-leading Princeton, catapulting itself back into contention for a spot in the Ivy League championship series.
In Saturday’s first game, the Big Green (7-20, 3-3 Ivy League) took a four-run lead in the second inning, only to see the Tigers storm back with four of their own in the fourth and three more in the fifth to win, 8-5. Senior Billie McFayden had three hits, including a two-run triple, but freshman Rachel McCarroll allowed seven earned runs in the loss.
Dartmouth rode Plonka for the rest of the weekend. In Saturday’s Game 2, she allowed just three hits, striking out eight and walking just one. The Big Green finally broke through on a walk and a throwing error for their only two runs in the seventh, winning 2-0.
In the rubber match, Dartmouth scored early and often, with four runs in the second, three in the fourth and one more in the sixth to win 8-0 via the run rule. This time Plonka gave up just one hit, while the Big Green took the lead on a two-run double by junior Maria Angelino and never looked back.
Over her last four outings, Plonka’s ERA has dropped from 4.76 to 3.36.
The Big Green are back home this week, hosting Hartford in a Wednesday doubleheader and welcoming Brown for a three-game series this weekend.
PHILADELPHIA — After splitting Saturday’s doubleheader, the Big Green (10-11, 3-3 Ivy League) went back and forth with the Quakers on Sunday, but could not overcome six RBIs from Penn’s Ben Miller in a 10-9 defeat.
Miller hit a grand slam in the sixth inning off senior Cole Roland that turned a two-run Dartmouth lead into a two-run deficit. The Big Green rallied for three runs in the eighth to tie the game on a two-run double by sophomore Tyler Cox, who was 4-for-5 on the day, but the Quakers bounced back with two of their own in the bottom half, and a solo shot in the ninth from junior James House wasn’t quite enough.
Dartmouth dropped Saturday’s first game, 9-4, thanks largely to a rough outing from senior Nathan Skinner, who allowed eight runs (seven earned) in five and two-thirds innings. Cox had three hits in that game, and his batting average is up to .417.
The Big Green picked up a 2-1 win in the nightcap Saturday behind senior Trystan Sarcone, who went seven and two-thirds innings and allowed one run on five hits. Junior Jack Metzger went the rest of the way to earn the save, and senior Kade Kretzschmar drove in both runs with productive outs.
Dartmouth will stay on the road this week, heading to UMass-Lowell on Tuesday and then to Yale for a three-game weekend series.
HANOVER — The Big Green led by three after a quarter and rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie the game in the fourth, but came up just short against the No. 7 Big Red, extending their Ivy League losing streak to 31 games.
Junior Tommy Rogan scored three goals for Dartmouth (4-4, 0-2 Ivy League) and fifth-year George Prince added two. Cornell had a 24-15 edge in shots on goal, while the Big Green won 11 face-offs to the Big Red’s seven.
Dartmouth will stay home this week, taking on Stony Brook on Tuesday and then welcoming No. 5 Yale on Saturday.
BOSTON — After dropping a 16-5 decision last Wednesday at No. 2 Boston College, the Big Green (2-7, 0-3 Ivy League) were unable to overcome a slow start in Sunday’s loss to the Crimson.
Junior Katie Elders scored three goals, bringing her team-leading total to 23. Dartmouth trailed 8-2 late in the first half.
The shots on goal favored Harvard, 19-14, while the Big Green had a 12-10 edge in the draw control circle.
Dartmouth hosts Columbia on Saturday for another chance to get its first league win.
BOSTON — The No. 15 Crimson overwhelmed the Big Green (8-7, 0-1 Ivy League) in their first league match. Freshman Carlos Guerrero Alvarez was the only Dartmouth player to win a set, taking his opponent to three sets at No. 2 singles.
Dartmouth will head to Cornell and Columbia this weekend.
HANOVER — The Big Green (6-8, 0-1 Ivy League) were no match for the Crimson in their Ivy League opener.
The No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Katie Weber and freshman Elizabeth Fahrmeier was victorious, but otherwise, Dartmouth failed to take a set. The Big Green will host Cornell on Saturday and Columbia on Sunday.
GRASONVILLE, Md. — Dartmouth finished tied with Penn for the team title at the Prospect Bay Intercollegiate this weekend, with sophomore Katherine Sung tying for the individual title.
Senior Kristen Chen finished tied for sixth, freshman Claire Xu tied for 11th, junior Samantha Yao tied for 19th and sophomore Penelope Tir tied for 22nd in the 83-player field.
Dartmouth heads to the Howard Invitational on April 16 and 17.
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — Graduate Jason Liu had a top-10 individual finish, but it was far from enough to keep the Big Green from near the bottom of the team leaderboard.
Senior Mark Turner and junior Eli Thrasher also had strong weekends for Dartmouth, which heads to the Princeton Invitational this coming weekend.
The No. 4 Big Green heavyweight rowers won all four of their races in Worcester, Mass., defeating MIT, No. 17 Columbia and No. 20 Holy Cross.
The women’s team was added as a guest for the Connell Cup in Leonia, N.J. against No. 2 Yale, No. 16 Penn and Columbia. The Bulldogs won all five events.
Next for the heavyweight team is a race at Yale on Saturday, while the women’s team will head to Sarasota, Fla. on April 15 and 16.