The Boston University softball team’s 10-game winning streak came to an end yesterday when it dropped a 2-1 extra-inning affair to Stony Brook University in the finale of a three-game weekend series at University Field.
“If you win every series, you’re going to be in good shape. I think that opportunity slipped through our fingers this weekend,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik. “This conference is tough. It’s always a battle.”
Pitchers Cassidi Hardy and Megan Currier led the Terriers (18-12, 5-1 America East) to a pair of shutout wins Saturday.
“We only gave up two runs on the weekend. That’s really good,” Rychcik said. “Our pitching has been very good, very solid since Spring Break. I’m very confident in all three pitchers. We’re getting what we are supposed to be getting out of them.”
Hardy hurled the first of BU’s back-to-back shutouts Saturday, helping the Terriers to a 1-0 victory over the Seawolves (15-14-1, 2-4) in the series opener.
BU’s offense started slow, managing just one hit over the first five innings. In the top of the fifth, freshman April Setterlund drew a bases-loaded walk to score sophomore Rachel Hebert for BU’s only run.
Currier tossed the second shutout of the day in a 2-0 victory. The sophomore didn’t allow a runner past second base and surrendered three hits.
The Terriers opened the second game with a bang, as Setterlund hit a solo shot in the first, putting BU up 1-0. The Terriers’ second run came in the fourth, when sophomore Rachel Moeller singled home Hebert.
Rychcik attributed Saturday’s low-scoring games to Stony Brook’s impressive pitching.
“Good pitching always slows down good hitting,” he said. “When you’re facing a pitcher that is pitching over 65 miles per hour, you’re not going to have a lot of hits. It just comes down to execution. When you don’t get 10 hits a game, but only four or five hits, you need to get some runs out of them. We were fortunate to do that in the first two games.”
BU struggled to execute in yesterday’s loss. Setterlund scored on a wild pitch in the first inning, but the Terriers weren’t able to capitalize on any other opportunities.
Trailing 1-0 in the last of the seventh, Stony Brook second baseman Molly Kavitsky hit a game tying round-tripper to send the game into extra innings. In the top of the eighth, BU had an opportunity to take the lead after loading the bases, but sophomore Alyssa Struzenberg induced a ground out to end the frame.
The Seawolves capitalized on BU’s missed chance in the bottom half as Marissa Fleury’s single scored Ashley Westphal to give Stony Brook the win.
Hardy started yesterday’s tilt, and was relieved by freshman Kelley Engman after three scoreless innings. Engman was charged with the loss.
“We were doing a good job, but it was just time for a move,” Rychcik said of the pitching change. “We needed to get some more runs, get a greater separation and we didn’t do that.”
