Terriers hope for advantage in rest of homestand

After an overall disappointing performance in conference play over the weekend, the Boston University softball team is looking to salvage the rest of its nine-game home stand.

The Terriers (18-10, 4-2 America East), are an all-time 151- 41 at home and have not had a home record below .500 over the past twelve seasons. So far this year, BU is 2-3 at its field after a tough opening day loss to Harvard University and some shaky defensive play against University of Maine.

Rookie roster

BU’s 17-person roster contains seven freshmen, including five consistent starters in the field and one starting pitcher. While the year has not necessarily been easy for most of the rookies, three of them have received accolades from the AE. Pitcher Holli Floetker has been named both the AE Pitcher of the Week twice and the Rookie of the Week once. Chelsea Kehr, who redshirted last year due to injury, has received the Rookie of the Week honors twice. This week shortstop Brittany Clendenny was named Rookie of the Week.

“They’ve been through the hardest part of the year,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik. “They’ve seen it all now…It’s just a matter of trying to maintain that confidence and going out there and playing with it. They all have the ability to play…I knew they were going to be a big factor this year and I’d just like to see them just get better, continue to get better, keep striving to get better, balancing the ups and downs a little better too.”

April showers

After a prolific junior season, senior center fielder April Setterlund already holds a good portion of the records for the BU softball team. Nonetheless, Setterlund, who is leading the team in on-base percentage at .557 and in walks at 25, is only five home runs away from tying the team record for home runs in a career. After adding on six more round-trippers this season, Setterlund has 27 total in her time at BU. The record belongs to Chiya Louie, who had 32 homeruns between the 2004-07 seasons.

Setterlund is also two runs away from the record for career runs after accumulating 149 during her time as a Terrier.

While Setterlund is still an offensive threat, Rychcik said that her production will not be the same as it was last year.

“I think her role changes,” Rychcik said. “Some coaches feel they want to take that risk of pitching to her and then she gets opportunities…they’re going to work around her a lot. I don’t think her numbers are going to be like last year’s and it has nothing to do with how she’s hitting.”

Mask turns singles into doubles

Redshirt freshman right fielder Jayme Mask had a strong start to the season last year as the Terriers’ leadoff hitter before an injury sliding into home plate would lead to year-ending surgery. This year, Mask has found a way to own the base paths just by starting with a single. Mask, who is hitting .346 in 24 games, has stolen 12 bases so far this year. Her three steals during Saturday’s game against Maine tied a team record for steals in a single game.

“I think every weekend, every game kind of depends on what the opportunities are,” Rychcik said. “Jayme’s one I think can run on just about anybody though. We can run her against some good arms and good releases and in-conference and out-of-conference. It’s just instantly she’s got a double… and most balls after that are going to be a run. It’s great having speed at the top of the order and she uses it well.”

Defenseless Defense

While the Terriers have been at the top of nearly every statistical category for weeks, their fielding has been far from exemplary. BU has a .951 fielding percentage and as of March 28 its defense ranked fifth out of seven AE teams. The team has 43 errors so far this season but the most daunting statistic is that out of the 89 runs that opponents have scored on the Terriers, only 55 have been earned.

“Hopefully we get better,” Rychcik said. “We’re going to work at it every day and we know it’s a shortcoming right now…we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to help our pitching.”