The Boston University softball team dropped a 13-9 decision to the University of Maine yesterday at Kessock Field. The first-place Terriers had no trouble generating offense, but a rocky sixth inning proved to be the deciding factor.
“We couldn’t get out of the sixth. That was our problem,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik. “But we had done some good things up to that point.”
The Terriers (26-16, 12-3 America East) responded well to a 1-0 deficit after the Black Bears (9-35, 8-7) took the lead in the bottom of the second inning. The third started with singles by freshmen Melanie Delgado and April Setterlund. Delgado scored when junior Christy Leath reached base on an error by the Black Bears. After junior Melissa Dubay walked to load the bases, sophomore Rachel Hebert homered to give the Terriers a 5-1 lead.
BU increased its lead in the top of the fifth with two runs on four hits. Hebert singled home junior Shayne Lotito, prompting a pitching change for the Black Bears. Junior Nora Militz greeted reliever Cayleigh Montano with an RBI groundout, plating Dubay to give BU a 7-1 lead.
It was Maine’s turn to fight back in the last of the fifth, piling up three runs on four hits to cut the deficit to 7-4.
The Terriers weren’t done scoring though, scoring two more runs in the top of the sixth. Leath had a sacrifice hit to score senior Tyler Benson and Hebert singled for her final RBI of the day, helping Setterlund across home to give the Terriers a 9-4 lead.
“Anytime you score nine runs, you should win. Bottom line,” Rychcik said. “We just couldn’t get out of the sixth inning, either with defense or with pitching. That is what hurt us.”
In the beginning of the sixth, Rychcik brought on freshman Kelley Engman in relief of sophomore Megan Currier, who pitched the first six innings.
“We wanted a new look,” Rychcik said of the pitching change. “[Switching Engman for Currier] is what we’ve been doing a lot this year and it’s been working. It just didn’t work out [yesterday].”
The sixth inning started with four singles by the Black Bears, the last of which was a two-run blow by Whitney Spangler. After another single loaded the bases, a Terren Hall walk scored Alexis Souhlaris.
Rychcik followed by recalling Currier, but Maine continued the onslaught in an inning that totaled nine runs on nine hits.
Facing their first deficit since taking the lead in the third, the Terriers needed a miracle to erase the sudden four-run deficit. But with a one-two-three inning, BU’s comeback bid went for naught.
“You look at our record, how we’ve played and who we are, and we look pretty good,” Rychcik said. “I expect to bounce back [today against Harvard University]. Sometimes things don’t go your way, but we just have to keep doing it our way, keep working and it’ll be okay.”