Hitting droughts continued to plague the softball team over the past week, and as a result, the Bulldogs (20-21, 5-7 Ivy) dropped four of their last six games.

Yesterday the Bulldogs placed second in the New Haven City Series, defeating Quinnipiac (13-24) 6-3 in the semifinals, but losing 3-1 to the University of New Haven (19-22) in the championship game.

And over the weekend, the team dropped three of four Ivy contests, splitting a doubleheader with host Dartmouth (14-14, 7-3) on Friday and then losing twice to Harvard (19-18, 9-3) Saturday in Cambridge.

Yale fell to the Big Green in the opener 4-0 but rebounded to win the nightcap 8-5. The following day, the Crimson swept the doubleheader, winning 3-0 and 6-2.

“We can’t hit,” head coach Andy Van Etten said. “Hitting is the name of the game and when you can’t hit it’s tough to win.”

Since putting up nine runs in the Dartmouth doubleheader, the Bulldogs have been out-hit in each of the past four games and have scored only five earned runs over that same span.

The Bulldogs best offensive showing came in their first game of yesterday’s tournament.

Yale used a four-run fourth inning and the pitching of Shayna Filson ’04 to defeat Quinnipiac 6-3. Laura Beckert ’03 drove in two runs, and Kristen Maturo ’01, Monica Lebron ’01, Alice Liu ’01 and Leah Kelley ’04 each added an RBI for Yale. Filson pitched a complete game, striking out seven and allowing only one earned run.

“We did a good job of executing in the first game,” said Maturo, who is currently three RBIs short of Yale’s career record. “Shayna pitched a great game and we were able to string together a few hits.”

Yale was unable to sustain that offensive production in the final round against New Haven. Jesseka Bartholomew ’03 drove in Yale’s only run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning to score Lebron. From there, however, University of New Haven pitcher Kathleen Lawlor shut down the Bulldog offense. Lawlor, who threw a complete game in the Chargers’ 11-inning victory over Southern Connecticut in the first game, outdueled Yale’s Cara Denver ’02, who allowed only two earned runs in the 3-1 loss.

“I have to give credit to [Lawlor],” Van Etten said. “She gave up only one run in 18 innings.”

Yale had four players named to the All-Tournament team — Lebron, Maturo, Kelley and Beckert.

The Yale bats were held similarly silent two days earlier in Cambridge, where the Cantab pitching staff limited Yale to two runs in the doubleheader.

In the opener, Filson allowed only three runs, but the Bulldogs could manage only four hits in the 3-0 loss.

In the nightcap, Harvard scored six runs off the Yale duo of Denver and Eli starter Jillian Miles ’04 en route to the 6-2 victory. Bartholomew led the Bulldogs with two hits, and Rina Brannen ’04 went 1-3 with an RBI in the losing effort.

“We were in position to win all four games [over the weekend],” Van Etten said. “But we just couldn’t hit when we needed to.”

Yale’s lone victory on the weekend came in the front end of the Dartmouth doubleheader as Filson shut out the Big Green 4-0. Filson hit her sixth home run of the season, and Maturo drove in two runs in the game. Filson’s homer, which was the Bulldogs’ ninth of the season, set a new school record for team home runs. The freshman scattered four hits and struck out six in the complete-game victory.

“Shayna had a great pitching effort,” Van Etten said. “She really shut them down all game.”

Yale didn’t fare as well in the second game, in which Dartmouth took advantage of four Bulldog errors in the 8-5 Big Green victory.

Yale will look to correct its hitting woes in its final two doubleheaders of the season when it travels to Brown tomorrow and then closes out its season at home against Central Connecticut on Friday.