Exit five seniors. Enter five freshmen.
As the maturity of this year’s starting lineup for the BU softball team has changed gears from seasoned veterans to inexperienced rookies, the outlook may seem bleak at first glance. But when the Terriers received one of the best recruiting classes they have ever had in return, head coach Amy Hayes knew her lineup was well stacked for another successful run at the America East conference title.
“I immediately expected them to come in and produce,” she said. “We had some real holes to fill.”
And for the most part, produce these freshmen have. At the top of the hitting leaderboard are center fielder Julie Henneke and shortstop Jaime Haas. The two have combined to lead the club in batting average (.308, .288), hits (20, 19) and slugging percentage (.415, .333). Henneke has also made her presence felt on the mound, placing third on team in earned run average (1.89) and second in sitting batters down (35 K’s).
Two other freshmen stepping up to fill voids, pitcher/outfielder DeKenya Williams and catcher Jennifer Shields, have also added some much-needed firepower and stability on the hill and behind the plate after the loss of battery mates Robyn King and Leslie Linnemeyer to graduation.
“It’s going to be their program,” Hayes said. “And right now, I can’t ask for a lot more out of them.”
CONFERENCE PLAY
While attitude and determination have been two welcome traits from the freshmen, the club would also benefit from a few more wins to support them. Entering today’s contest with the University of Connecticut, BU has won just two of its last 10 games — a doubleheader sweep of the University of Rhode Island — after suffering through its worst losing streak since Hayes took over the reigns last year. Last season, the Terriers never went more than three-straight games without a win. This season, BU has already suffered through a three-game slide and just overcame an eight-game skid with the victories over URI.
To the team’s credit, BU also came off a tough tournament schedule that pitted it against formidable, nationally ranked teams, including No. 13 Fresno State University and No. 6 University of Washington. And after today’s matchup with the Huskies, the Terriers will embark on their conference schedule with a pair of doubleheaders against the Catamounts of the University of Vermont this weekend. Despite hard luck against quality opponents, Hayes said the competition will prepare her young squad for the challenges Vermont and the rest of the America East conference will offer.
“Vermont is no Fresno State, and we’re no Fresno State,” she said. “When we stepped on the field with those people, the only difference between us and them was their mental approach to the game. Knowing that, we should be able to come back to our home turf and dominate.”
ODDS AND ENDS
Pride and position aren’t the only things the Terriers will be playing for starting this afternoon. BU will look to keep a perfect home record intact after putting together 15 victories on the friendly confines of the BU Softball Field last season … Senior third baseman Aryn Rangel will return to the lineup today after battling injuries through much of the first month of the season … BU has not taken the field in a week, thanks to last week’s communication problems that caused a doubleheader at Brown University to be canceled … Junior Robyn Horrick, the team leader in ERA, strikeouts and innings pitched, will look to tally her third win of the season and bump her record to an even .500 when she toes the rubber for the start.