Softball to battle rival BC
By: Bryan Quigley
The battle of Commonwealth Avenue continues with tomorrow’s match up between Boston University and Boston College.
BU (17-15, 3-0 Patriot League) is coming in fresh off a 3-0 series sweep of Holy Cross. BC (11-19) enters Wednesday’s match up at the BU Softball Field after a series loss vs NC State, losing 4 of their last 5 games.
When it comes to BU vs BC match-ups regardless of the sport or the factors entering the game, it always seems to be a thriller. More of the same is to be expected in this year’s tilt.
BC took the win last year with a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning that was enough to escape the 1-0 pitching duel between BC’s Allyson Frei and BU’s Ali DuBois.
The Terriers will look to avenge this loss, but this game might come with a different scoreline. While the Terriers’ pitching is coming in red hot, BC has relied much more on their offense this year, with most of their games being high scoring affairs. The Eagles have 101 RBIs on the year with 146 runs allowed, while the Terriers have 101 RBIs on the year with only 84 runs allowed in two more games played than the Eagles.
Offensively BU will rely primarily on senior leader Alex Heinen, who leads the team with 7 home runs and 23 RBIs, classmate and Emily Morrow who leads the Terriers with a .340 batting average. After Sunday’s game against Holy Cross, Heinen remarked on the upcoming matchup by saying, “everyone looked comfortable regardless of the outcome,” and the importance of “keeping the same mentality through BC and Lehigh.”
BC’s offense boats two players batting over .300, Lexi DiEmannuele (.356) and Emme Martinez (.337), who spark the hitting for the Eagles. Gianna Boccagno is BC’s top power threat with 6 home runs and 19 RBIs. Their struggle has come at the mound with a team ERA of 5.96 and will look to turn this around with Wednesday’s matchup.
Both teams will look to spark a late season run with the importantly rivalry match on BU’s turf Wednesday at 4PM.