Softball: Terriers Sweep Lafayette to Remain Perfect in Conference Play
By Charlie DeMatteo
Boston University Softball (31-7, 6-0 PL) won all three games over the Lafayette Leopards (4-26-1, 1-8 PL) at home this weekend to record their sixth straight Patriot League win to start the season.
The Terriers swept the Saturday double-header 8-0 (six innings) and 4-2, before completing the weekend sweep on Sunday in a 3-2 win.
“I’m happy we got the [three] wins, but I’m always looking for us to be a bit better and sharper,” BU Head Coach Ashley Waters said. “I think we had some opportunities where we could have separated ourselves and scored some more runs.”
In the first of the doubleheader, senior pitcher Allison Boaz tossed six two-hit innings in a dominating performance over the Leopards. Boaz struck out five and earned the win to improve her record to a whopping 14-4 on the year.
The Terrier offense also performed as they have been all year against Lafayette. Graduate first baseman Lauren Amodio started things off in the second when she reached on an error, allowing outfielders Emily Gant and Kate Pryor to score.
Amodio picked up her third RBI of the day when she homered to left-center in the fourth inning, extending the BU lead to 3-0. The Terriers had a busy fifth inning as junior outfielder Lauren Nett singled to score senior third baseman Caitlin Coker and a Pryor sacrifice fly scored Gant to make it 5-0.
BU ended the game emphatically as Coker launched a ball to left field and came around to score on a 3-run inside-the-park home run to end the game thanks to the run rule.
Saturday’s second game saw a closer affair between the two teams, but strong pitching was again the difference for the Terriers. Freshman pitcher Kasey Ricard tossed all seven innings allowing two runs on just two hits, earning her 12th victory of the season in what is becoming a stellar freshman campaign.
The only runs surrendered by Ricard came on a two-run homer by Lafayette first baseman Megan Coyle in the second inning. At that point, however, Ricard was already staked to a 3-0 lead thanks to RBI singles from Gant, Coker, and freshman second baseman Lauren Deppiesse in the first inning.
Ricard finished the day with 11 strikeouts.
“For us to take 11 outs without them putting the ball in play, I’ll take that any day,” Waters said.
Junior shortstop Kayla Roncin finished off the scoring for BU in the second inning with an RBI-triple lined down the right-field line. From there, Ricard cruised the rest of the way.
Looking for the three-game sweep of the Leopards on Sunday, the Terriers found themselves in an air-tight game through five scoreless innings. However, Lafayette second baseman Kaili Reitano broke the game open in the sixth inning with a two-run homer to right-center off of Boaz to give the Leopards their first lead of the weekend.
Lafayette’s lead didn’t last long, however, as the Terriers struck right back in the bottom of the sixth inning. Gant started the scoring off with a fielder’s choice that scored Roncin to get BU on the board. Then, in the seventh, Roncin came through to tie the game with a base hit to shortstop that scored freshman outfielder Aimee Metz.
With already one walk-off hit this weekend, Coker stepped to the plate in the seventh looking for another, and she came through. Down in the count 1-2, Coker lined a fastball through the right side to bring in senior catcher Audrey Sellers as the game’s winning run.
“She [Coker] is incredible, she’s doing exactly what she needs to,” Waters said.
BU will look to continue its winning streak on Tuesday when they host Harvard for a doubleheader.