Softball: Terriers Get a Gritty Sweep of River Hawks

By: Bryan Quigley

The Boston University Terriers faced off with the UMass Lowell River Hawks in Wednesday’s thrilling double-header. The gritty matchup resulted in a BU sweep, but it was far from a walk in the park for the Terriers.

Ali DuBois got the start for BU in game one, facing off against Kaysee Talcik. The bats got rolling early for the Terriers with two-out RBI singles from Madi Killebrew and Marina Sylvestri in the first inning, giving BU a 2-0 lead. However, this lead would not last, as UMass Lowell would strike back in the third inning with two runs off of BU fielding errors. The River Hawks would score again off a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning, taking the lead 3-2. It was an odd game for DuBois, as all three of UMass Lowell’s runs scored were unearned runs. Defensive issues rattled the sophomore pitcher as BU had 4 errors on the day, making the job that much harder for DuBois.

Senior catcher Alex Heinen described these mistakes as, “an off game…but we’re always looking to improve defensively.” It was a huge fifth inning outburst with RBI’s from Alexa Ponce and Sylvestri that proved to be the difference maker in the Terriers’ 4-3 victory in game one.

Julia Handfield started the second game for the Terriers against Lovina Capria of the River Hawks. Handfield had a tough time against UML, giving up two runs in just one inning of work before being taken out of the game. On the other hand, her replacement, Emily Gant, was phenomenal. Gant pitched 8 scoreless innings giving up only 3 hits with 11 strikeouts. From the moment she stepped on the mound, Gant dominated and gave her team a chance to win. On the other side of the mound, Lovina Capria was in complete control, blanking the Terriers offensive attack.

Heinen talked about these struggles saying, “We just had to get the ball in the air….We were getting runners on base, we just had trouble scoring them.”

The scoring for the Terriers started in the fourth inning, where Emily Morrow blasted a solo home run to right field to lower the deficit to 2-1. The game would stay locked until the seventh inning, where Emily Gant scored on a clutch ground out from Jen Horita to lock the game at 2-2 and send it into extra innings. The game stayed deadlocked until the bottom of the ninth where Nicole Amodio cracked a walk-off RBI double to complete the comeback for BU and win 3-2.

Regarding the comeback and their upcoming opponents, Heinen went on to say, “Knowing we have the fight to come back in a game like that, we’ll be okay going into Lafayette and Bucknell.”

Boston University now sits at 25-17, having won 5 in a row and 12 of their last 14 games. The Terriers will look to carry this momentum in their next matchup this weekend in a three game series against Patriot League rival Lafayette.