Softball: Terrier offense fuels doubleheader sweep against CSUF, Penn
By Michael Wax
BU softball’s offense powered the Terriers to a doubleheader sweep against Penn and Cal State Fullerton Tuesday, run-ruling the Quakers and winning the two contests by a combined margin of 17 runs.
Junior pitchers Lizzy Avery and Allison Boaz accounted for all 13 innings on Tuesday. Avery allowed just one earned run in five innings, while Boaz gave up three runs in eight innings of work across two appearances.
GAME 1: BU defeats Penn 9-1
In its first meeting against Penn since 1994, BU got the lead early in game one, scoring four runs in the first. Sophomore shortstop Kayla Roncin drove in graduate center fielder Jen Horita, then senior Emily Gant followed with a three-run, inside the park home run — her first of the season — to make it a 4-0 game.
From there, Avery worked in and out of trouble until the fifth inning, when Penn’s Corrie Phillips singled to drive in pinch-runner Sammy Fenton. The Terriers got that run back the very next inning, as Gant continued her excellent game at the plate with an RBI single to put the Terriers back up by four.
After back-to-back singles to start the sixth inning, junior Allison Boaz came in to relieve Avery. Boaz got two outs before the Quakers loaded up the bases, then struck out Emma Nedley to keep the lead intact.
After escaping trouble in the top of the sixth, the Terriers wasted little time adding to their lead in the bottom of the inning. Roncin drove in senior second baseman Aliyah Huerta-Leipner with an RBI single, and senior first baseman Nicole Amodio followed with her first home run of the season, a three-run home run, to walk off the Quakers 9-1.
Avery picked up her fifth win while Boaz got her second save of the season, and the balanced BU lineup saw five Terriers record multi-hit games in the win.
GAME 2: BU defeats Cal State Fullerton 12-3
After three scoreless innings, BU put up the game’s first runs in the fourth. With two outs and the bases loaded, Horita tapped one back to Titans pitcher Myka Sutherlin, who underthrew the first baseman and allowed both Huerta-Leipner and Gant to score. BU then tacked on two more runs in the inning as Roncin drove in Horita and graduate pinch hitter Marina Sylvestri with a single down the right-field line.
BU added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, jumping on new CSUF pitcher Alexia Silvas quickly. After the Terriers got runners to second and third, senior second baseman Bella Gargicevich-Almeida hit a sacrifice fly to score freshman outfielder Tyesha Williams. A base hit from Huerta-Leipner then allowed Gant to score to make it a 6-0 BU lead.
Cal State Fullerton responded with a rally of its own in the bottom of the inning. A single from Megan Delgadillo went underneath the glove of Williams in left field, allowing Alexa Neil and Antuanett Dean to score and for Delgadillo to make it to third base. The next batter, Hannah Becerra, grounded out to second to score Delgadillo and cut the Terriers’ 6-0 lead to 6-3.
After a quiet sixth inning, the Terrier bats woke up again in the seventh. They scored six runs on six hits and went through three Quaker pitchers during that half-inning. Gargicevich-Almeida drove in Gant with an RBI single, then Horita singled to score Huerta-Leipner. The final four runs all came on non-hits, as Gargicevich-Almeida scored on an RBI groundout, junior third baseman Caitlin Coker and Horita scored on a fielding error, and Amodio plated the twelfth run of the night on a wild pitch.
Boaz finished up her complete game with a spotless seventh inning, and the Terriers’ 12 runs were the most by the team since February 25 vs. Akron, when they scored 15 runs in five innings.
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The Terriers head to Long Beach, Calif., for the Louisville Slugger Tournament. They’ll take on Long Beach State on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. EST.