Terriers triumph in shutout victories

That wasn’t a mirage you saw if you had the chance to travel by Malvern Field yesterday afternoon.

That really was the Boston University softball team making its 2001 home debut after a two-and-a-half week delay due to the wonderful winter weather of Boston this spring. The Terriers looked to have thawed off nicely and barely showed any signs of frostbite as they captured both games of a doubleheader, 3-0 and 1-0, against the University of Rhode Island.

The Terrier pitchers seemed to be delighted with the new field as the trio of senior Robyn King and sophomores Robyn Horrick and Tiffany Finateri shut down the Rams’ bats all afternoon, giving up only nine hits in both games.

“It felt good to finally get on the field,” Horrick said. “I think we played really well [despite practicing indoors]. It was just a great team effort.”

Despite Rams pitcher Gwen Rack’s one-hit performance over 6 2/3 innings, Finateri held her own in the second game of the afternoon as she scattered five hits while striking out four. Finateri got caught in a jam in the sixth inning when Rams junior right fielder Cristine Tindall crushed a Finateri pitch deep to left field for a double. After a fielder’s choice moved Tindall to third base with one out, BU coach Amy Hayes handed the ball over to King to shut the Rams down. King did not disappoint as she blew away the next two hitters on strikeouts and escaped the inning unscathed. King continued to turn up the heat on Rhode Island as she came back in the seventh inning to strike out the side.

“She was just bringing it,” Hayes said. “This was definitely one of her better days.”

Thanks to King’s dominant relief performance, the stage was set for senior second baseman Kerry Herr and her seventh-inning heroics. Herr hit a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield to score her sister Courtney from third base.

It was a different story for BU bats in the opening game as the Terriers pounded Rams starter Christine Pederson for nine hits. The Terriers broke the game open in the third inning as back-to-back singles by King and sophomore Nichole Kurker each drove in a run, giving BU a 2-0 lead.

Aryn Rangel added an insurance run in the sixth inning, doubling to center field to score Horrick.

Horrick (4-3) pitched all seven innings for the complete game victory. Despite allowing three walks and hitting three batters, “Shakes” settled down to spread just four hits while striking out four Rams.

“She’s such a competitor out there,” Hayes said. “She always finds a way to win.”

Not to be lost in the pitching frenzy was the play of the Terrier defense. BU only made one error in the doubleheader, a surprising fact considering the team has not seen a real playing field in over two weeks.

“We only had two days out here [at Malvern Field] to get ready, but I was pleased with how well our defense played out there. [The inconsistency] comes from being inside for so long,” Hayes said.

And in spite of the inconsistent hitting by the Terriers in the two games, Hayes was still pleased with her team’s overall effort.

“We can’t go out there and hit home runs everyday,” Hayes said. “We’re getting more consistent everyday and starting to put hits together. There are still things we need to work on. … We’ll be doing that at 6 a.m. [in practice].”