Softball, Sports

Softball looks to stay hot in extended home stretch

Looking to start up a significant winning streak, the Boston University softball team will take on Bryant University in the last game of its nine-game home stretch Wednesday afternoon. The nine-game period, during which the Terriers have so far gone 4-4, is the longest home stretch of BU’s season.

Redshirt freshman outfielder Jayme Mask is second on the team in batting average at .355 and made key defensive plays to help BU take series from UMBC last weekend. U-JIN LEE/Daily Free Press Staff

Over the weekend, the Terriers (20-12, 6-3 America East) took two out of three from University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Throughout the weekend, BU displayed some sharp defensive plays at the hands of redshirt freshman right fielder Jayme Mask, who made a diving catch in the outfield on Saturday, and freshman third basemen Megan Volpano, who made a diving stop at third and threw out the runner from her knees on Sunday.

“We have our moments,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik of his teams improved defense last weekend. “We’ve had some tough errors and tough hops and then we’ve made some typical errors that we shouldn’t make.

“That being said, I think we’re improving. More balls, more games, more days outside really help us.”

Redshirt freshman first baseman Chelsea Kehr also had her own impressive moment during Sunday’s game that helped lead BU to an extra-inning win. Kehr, who is hitting .284 on the season with 24 RBIs, hit a two-run walk-off home run in the eighth inning off the scoreboard in left center field to lift the Terriers over UMBC.

“It’s something where we know that we can score in late innings like that if we need a big hit or something like that,” Rychcik said. “Just the fact that, hey, Chelsea can get a big hit at the end of a game for us, that’s there and maybe just a little confidence that somebody like that can do that.”

Bryant formally made the jump to Division I athletics in 2007 and while the softball team struggled against better competition at first, like many other Bryant athletic teams, the program has made serious strides in recent years.

That said, the Bulldogs have struggled over the last couple of weeks.

Whereas BU experienced success last weekend, the Bulldogs (17-14, 7-3 Northeast Conference) lost their third-straight game after dropping two to Quinnipiac University.

“I know they got shook up this weekend, but they had about 11, 12 [wins] in a row I think,” Rychcik said. “I think they’ve doubled their win total from last year. They’re a team that believes they can win.”

Leading Bryant is shortstop Aubrey Mable. Mable is not only one of the best hitters on the team, but in the entire NEC. She is at the top of the conference’s standings for batting (.438), slugging percentage (.781) and on-base percentage (.534).

On the mound, Bryant typically throws either senior Samantha Houseal (9-6) or sophomore Brittany Hart (7-6). The two pitchers have a combined 2.96 ERA.

The two teams last met up in April of last season when the Terriers white-washed Bryant 4-0. While BU’s team has changed this year with an influx of freshmen, three out of the four runs for the Terriers were scored by current players. Senior center fielder April Setterlund tripled and scored a run while sophomore pitcher Whitney Tuthill, who was playing as the designated hitter, went two-for-two from the plate and scored twice.

Despite beating Bryant last season, Rychcik said that the upcoming game will not be easy.

“They’re a team that believes they can win,” Rychcik said. “It makes anybody dangerous when they have that confidence so they want to be one of the better teams here in the northeast. They’re going to come up here with intent to beat us.”

This determination from Bryant to beat the Terriers is something that Rychcik said has to do with BU’s successful season last year.

“That’s something that happens when you win conference, you go to regionals,” Rychcik said. “You have
that target on your back and I think we’ve had it all year. Nobody’s backed down.

“Everybody’s brought their best game against us and we’ve kind of had to defend it. They’re going to come after us and play and hopefully we’ll be able to shut them down and get out the win.”

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