In its final home series of the regular season, the Boston University softball team showed why it should be No. 1 in America East this weekend with a three-game sweep of Binghamton University (6-33, 1-17 AE) at BU Softball Field.
After a 2-1 victory in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Terriers never looked back, winning the final two games, 13-2 and 9-0, in five-inning mercy rule contests.
“[The mercy wins] are nice because you get an opportunity to rest a little bit,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik. “It is nice to have those. Obviously if you are winning mercy games then you are playing pretty well, and I thought we played well this weekend. The bottom line is: win 1-0, win 10-9 or win 10-0. It is only going to count as one win, and that is the most important part for us.”
In the first win of the weekend, junior Cassidi Hardy stole the show with 13 strikeouts, a season high for the Terriers (29-17, 15-3).
“I had a goal going into this game,” Hardy said. “I really wanted to break my personal best [13]. So I was a little bummed out actually, but I’m very pleased with my performance [Saturday]. I’m a big stats buff, so I check out the teams. I don’t want to play down to competition, so I need to set myself goals.”
“[Hardy] had a good zip early,” Rychcik said. “I think sometimes she comes out a little slow in the first, but [Saturday] I thought she was real sharp early on.”
The Terriers’ runs came in the bottom of the first inning – with an RBI single by junior Christy Leath that plated junior Shayne Lotito – and the bottom of the fourth, when freshman April Setterlund drew a walk with the bases loaded to score junior Brooke Hudson with the game-winning run.
“I think we are better than a 2-1 game against this team. I’m not being cocky, I just think we are better than that,” Rychcik said. “It was a little slower pitching than we’ve seen in awhile and that was an adjustment we didn’t make at first. We saw some of the same pitching again and we were able to do something with it in the second game.”
Saturday’s second game featured a boatload of offense, as eight different Terriers crossed the plate, including senior Molly Gallagher, who hit her second home run of the season. Every hitter in the the lineup contributed to the Terriers’ 13 runs on 13 hits.
“That is why there were 13 runs: because we went through the order and different people got on base,” Rychcik said.
Sophomore hurler Megan Currier finished with three strikeouts and allowed five hits over five innings.
“I’ve had a lot of trouble with illegal pitches this year. Every time I get called now I just tell myself to stay on the mound,” Currier said. “I know what I have to do. I just have to go out there and do it.”
After a first inning in which she allowed two runs, Currier worked a 1-2-3 inning second and got the Terriers out of a bases-loaded situation in the third with her third strikeout of the game.
Yesterday’s series finale was similar to the previous game. Both were mercy wins lasting five innings, with the offense driving BU to victory. Seven different players crossed the plate and nine different Terriers notched RBI in the win.
“We swung the bats pretty well,” Rychcik said. “They [Binghamton] don’t have strong pitching right now. They’re in the rebuilding process, so right now we are a better team. We have great depth in the lineup and that is why we were able to pull away.”
