Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you. In a crucial battle for positioning in America East, the Boston University softball team split two games with the University of Maine Wednesday afternoon. The Terriers (19-18, 5-3 America East) took the first game, 2-1, from the Black Bears (24-13, 6-2) before dropping the second match, 4-2.
The first game featured the fantastic return of Cassidi Hardy, who pitched a complete game while giving up only one unearned run on four hits. Although she was in and out of trouble for the entire game, Hardy allowed the only run in the game’s final inning.
The Terriers manufactured their runs in the fifth inning after having their own troubles with Maine pitcher Jenna Balent. After Brooke Hudson singled and was sacrificed to second, a misplayed fly ball by Black Bear left fielder Molly McKinney led to Hudson scoring the game’s first run with two outs in the inning. After advancing to second on the error by McKinney, Christy Leath was able to score on a Brandi Shields single to make the score 2-0.
Maine would add its lone run in the top of the seventh after a Shields error at second base.
Game Two featured the comeback of ace pitcher Brittany Detwiler, making her way back some two weeks earlier than expected. Simply in the game to get a feel for the mound again, Detwiler gave up four runs (two earned) in two innings of work. Although she was hit around some, her velocity was clearly right on the money.
“I can throw as much as I want on the side, but when you’re not facing batters with the plate and everything it’s a lot different,” Detwiler said.
Her coach believed that experience on the mound can only help her recovery.
“It’s just like any injury,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik. “The first couple of times out there you just gotta get a feel for it again. It’s just a matter of getting her comfort out on the mound again.”
Overall, though, it was a very important game for the Terriers. Getting back both of the team’s aces in the same day is a victory in itself.
“It’s gonna take some time to get those two back to 100 percent,” Rychcik said. “It’s nice to have them back, but to get them to 100 percent it’s gonna take a little bit of work.”
Getting Detwiler back was one of few highlights in the second game. The offense was held silent for the first five innings, only getting on the board in the sixth when it was too late.
“We lost our energy [from the first game] and didn’t keep our momentum going,” Rychcik said. “We just need to see what we can do down the road to prevent having a letdown like that. It was just disappointing to come out like that. We had a good chance to come out and take two. We gotta come out and focus and concentrate and apply everything.”
It wasn’t exactly the Terriers’ fault that they weren’t hitting on this day, though. They ran into the buzzsaw that was Black Bear pitcher Sarah Bennis. Bennis shut down the Terrier bats for the most part, only allowing two unearned runs in the sixth inning.
“[Bennis] knows what the conference is all about,” Rychcik said. “She carried them two years ago all the way to the conference championship. She was unbelievable. That’s why she is one of the best pitchers in the league. She throws that ball down, down, down and makes you ground out. I’m gonna be glad when she graduates. And I mean that as a compliment.”
The BU defense didn’t help out at all, committing four errors. Defense has been a strength all season, but the Terriers’ performance in the field yesterday seemed to be an aberration.
“We gave them a few extra bases just by not being sharp and not being aware a little bit,” Rychcik said.
While the day was a wash for the Terriers, who are still looking up to the Black Bears in the standings, the team can still feel good about what’s ahead the next few weeks. For the first time since conference play has begun, the Terriers are getting healthy. And that could spell bad news for the rest of the league.
