After playing dozens of games at a rapid pace over spring break, the Boston University softball team has played just twice in the past 17 days thanks to five cancellations and three postponements on its schedule.
After dropping their long-awaited Patriot League openers to Lehigh University two games to none, the Terriers (6-18, 0-2) will travel to Worcester this weekend to play three game against the College of the Holy Cross.
“We were in a pretty good rhythm after spring break, and maybe that was affected by the 17-day layoff,” said BU coach Kathryn Gleason. “We got in some good practices, but it was clear [after losing to Lehigh] that we just needed to get on the dirt, and we’ll have another chance to do that this weekend.”
While the Terriers were able to get in 13 games in March, Holy Cross (1-7, 0-3) was limited to just eight games in the month, and was only able to play in five contests before beginning conference play against the United States Military Academy on Saturday.
Much like BU in the beginning of its season, Holy Cross has averaged just three runs per game and will be looking to break out against its Bay State counterparts.
The Terriers have also experienced a lack of production recently, scoring just one run in each of their losses against Lehigh (21-3, 5-0 Patriot League) on Wednesday. While it’s a small sample size, facing opposing live pitching for the first time in over two weeks certainly had an effect on BU’s hitters.
“We have our coaches throw live and our pitches as well to make practice as close to game-like as possible,” Gleason said. “We talked about taking advantage of opportunities in practice, so when we are able to play and we do play, it’s not that big of a transition.”
While the Terriers struggled against Lehigh, there are two young players who have gotten the job done when it matters.
Freshman outfielder Emma Wong and sophomore outfielder Moriah Connolly have hit the ball exceptionally well this season, and they’re doing it from each end of the lineup.
Wong, from Solana Beach, California, has hit second in the lineup in 15 of her 22 games started, while Connolly has settled in nicely in the nine spot. From that final spot, Connolly does what she does best, which is advancing runners at a .545 clip.
From there, it’s up to the top of the lineup to score the runners, and that’s where Wong comes in. The rookie is batting a clean .500 with runners in scoring position, greatly contributing to her .407 average, which puts her at fifth in the Patriot League among players with 12 or more games played.
“They just can make things happen,” Gleason said. “Any time you have three-tool players like them, it not only puts the defense on its heels, but they’re unpredictable, whether it’s dropping down a bunt or lining it through the infield. To have them at the top and bottom of the lineup presents a lot of opportunities to get some baserunners and scoring opportunities.”
Both players will have to continue their success if the Terriers want to get back into the win column for the first time since March 14.
After playing Holy Cross last year for the first time since the 2010-11 season and dropping two of three, BU will be facing a rather unfamiliar opponent, who more than doubles the Terriers in terms of upperclassmen. One of those upperclassmen that BU will have to look out for is pitcher Tori Cheske, who has a 1.21 ERA over 17.1 innings of work and has accounted for nearly a third of the Crusaders’ strikeouts.
“Having leadership and experience is a huge part of the game,” Gleason said. “It’s going to take a couple of years for us to get to a point where most of the team is comfortable and familiar with the conference. We definitely have a small junior and senior class and [Holy Cross] doesn’t, so we’ll keep that in mind this weekend, and hopefully in a couple of years, we’ll have that strong leadership that we see with other teams.”
