NCAA, Softball, Sports

Softball heads to Florida for jam-packed Spring Break

Spring Break will be busier for the Boston University softball team than it will be for other students — sitting on a 5-4 record, the team will travel south one last time before returning home and eventually opening up conference play.

The Terriers will play 14 games in 10 days during spring break. DAILY FREE PRESS FILE PHOTO

In 10 days, the Terriers will play a total of 14 games, including five doubleheaders, with only a single day of rest in the mix. As it was last year, Florida will be the destination of each of BU’s matches. While last year’s break was composed of a trifecta of matchups in Clearwater, Fla., framed by a couple of five-game stints in Tampa, this year’s trip will take place solely in the former.

BU coach Shawn Rychcik highly values the opportunity the players get to put aside schoolwork and worry primarily about softball that the short vacation provides.

“We get the chance to just get into the hotel – we know we’re going to be there for 10 or 11 days – and we get to focus just on softball,” Rychcik said.

The Terriers begin play in the Under Armour Showcase on Friday against a pair of teams from the Missouri Valley Conference: the University of Northern Iowa and Bradley University. On Saturday, the team takes on Syracuse University and the University of South Carolina-Upstate. Sunday marks the last consecutive doubleheader of this stretch, as the Terriers face Miami University (Ohio) and the Netherlands National Team.

BU will face one of its toughest opponents of the season in Syracuse University. The Orange have beaten No. 15/16 University of Michigan and No. 10/11 Baylor University in their last two games, and presently lie just outside the rankings. For her recent performances, Syracuse pitcher Jenna Caira was honored as the National Pitcher of the Week on Wednesday.

An equally interesting match for the Terriers will be against the Netherlands International Team. Last year, Netherlands arose as the winner of the European Softball Federation Championship.

Despite the international supremacy exhibited by the Netherlands National Team, coach Rychcik remains undaunted by the road ahead.

“It’s just an opportunity to get another game under our belt,” Rychcik said. “It doesn’t count as anything, but it’s an opportunity to play an international team . . . and it’s a pretty nice honor to have a game like that.”

After the Showcase, the Terriers will rest for all of March 12, before picking things back up on March 13 against Fordham University. The following two days will also consist of a single game apiece for the Terriers. They will face off against the Blackbirds of Long Island University, followed by the University of North Florida.

LIU is one of the two returning teams that BU saw during last year’s spring break, the other being Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. The Blackbirds edged BU by a score of 8-6 last March.

“Long Island . . . [has] played an unbelievable schedule,” Rychcik said. “Although their record may not be awesome in the beginning, they have seen great competition . . . so it’s going to be a very tough schedule for us.”

The final weekend of spring break will have the Terriers playing in The Game Tournament. On March 16, BU begins the tourney with games against FAMU and the University of Illinois. The Terriers defeated each of the aforementioned teams in their last respective matchups by a combined score of 15-1.

Finally, the team plays Coastal Carolina University and the University of Maryland before wrapping up the trip against Northern Illinois University.

Regarding BU’s goals for the vacation, the team is looking to find success by means of improvement in each aspect of their game.

“If we can get rid of some of our errors, get some good pitching, and timely hitting, we can come out of here with a really good record,” Rychcik said.

Once the Terriers return home, they hope to have derived more experience from the beginning of their schedule than their opponents in America East. Rychcik suggested that tournaments such as these played in Florida provide BU with an advantage over conference competition.

“We’ll play the toughest schedule . . . in our conference,” Rychcik said. “If we can compete against [nonconference opponents] and see the speed, the power and the pitching they have to offer, it’s all going to make us better.”

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