Sports Wrap

Lightweight Rowing

The men’s varsity eight won the national championship at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) regatta in Camden, edging Dartmouth by just under a second and setting a course record of 5:33.059. The lights’ first national title since 2003 capped an undefeated season that also saw the Crimson win the Eastern Sprints regatta in Worcester, placing them atop Eastern collegiate rowing and the Ivy League for the second straight year.

 The women’s varsity lights took bronze, behind Stanford and Bucknell, at the IRA regatta.

Softball

Harvard (35-15, 17-3 Ivy) repeated as Ivy champions, sweeping Penn, 1-0 and 5-2, in the Ivy Championship series. Star pitcher Rachel Brown [5] ’12 spun a three-hit shutout in the first game. Fireballing Laura Ricciardone ’14 won the second, with Brown nailing down the save.

At the NCAA tournament in Seattle, Brown took a 2-0 loss to Washington in the regional opener, but bounced back to strike out 12 as the Crimson posted its first NCAA tournament win in 14 years, a 3-2 victory over Maryland in eight innings. She then shut out Texas Tech, 2-0, before Washington again defeated Brown and the Crimson, 4-0, in the final.