When Boston University ice hockey coach and Executive Director of Athletics (a.k.a. local deity) Jack Parker falters, you know it’s going to be a long day. The brains behind the bench for innumerable Beanpots walks on water – albeit in frozen form – almost daily. In short, pigs will have a firm grasp on air superiority by the time a BU student admits Parker screwed up.
Smells like bacon.
Parker, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the Boston University softball team’s home opener – the Terriers’ 37th game of the year – took a few practice deliveries against the chain link fence next to the dugout.
On his first warmup toss, the softball exploded from the long arm of the BU athletics program. Right over the fence, rolling across the Shaw’s parking lot and into the hands of a little girl. As the BU brass motioned for her to give it back, she thought about it. And then took her light-gold godsend home.
She should have stayed. There were more gifts to be had – especially if she took a seat on the University of Massachusetts at Amherst side. The Minutewomen were the lucky recipients of six walks, one hit-by-pitch and three Terrier fielding errors, as UMass eagerly took each gift faster than a Hilton sister on Christmas. Though the Terriers outhit UMass (14-10), BU looked more like the HoJo than the Hilton.
From the start, the Minutewomen needed only to walk to bring home runs. BU freshman pitcher Brittany Detwiler walked the first two batters, then sent them to second and third on a wild pitch. Katie Jo Kelley then pierced the gray sky with a soaring sacrifice fly that opened the scoring.
The final run of the inning scored on a botched fielder’s choice, allowing all runners to be safe on the play. But, two outs later, the Terriers went to bat down two runs – without allowing a hit.
Freshman pitcher Ashlee Freeman, who seems to have replaced her pitching arm with a rubber band (she’s thrown 24 innings since Friday) relieved Detwiler in the second and finished the game, walking three and allowing seven runs.
“I’m not sure we even wanted Ashlee to throw that much today,” said BU coach Amy Hayes. “In the [pitching] circle, flat out, I need somebody to step up. I need somebody that wants to set this team on their shoulders and run with it. Right now we don’t have it.”
Not that things outside the circle were good all around. The team’s three errors each looked about as pretty as the “houses” about two blocks down Ashford Street from the BU Softball Stadium. Unfortunately, they proved to be more costly.
After the Terriers rallied back from a 5-0 deficit to bring the game to 6-4, a throwing error and passed ball by catcher Josey Mendez with two outs provided UMass with yet another pair of unearned runs. A subsequent double pushed the score to 9-4 on three free coupons.
“That was an unfortunate inning,” Hayes said. “That probably hurt us more than anything.”
That came after the Terriers had loaded the bases, thanks in large part to calls that would have caused fans of yore to comment on the expertise of the umpires’ ophthalmologists. Those same fans would proceed to ask why BU could not see these presents as they were, after a double play and strikeout ended the Terrier attack.
Sophomore first baseman Liz Alley, who redeemed herself with a 3-for-4, two-RBI day – including a home run that trimmed the bushes in right center – saw two routine throws drop out of her glove. The first loaded the bases for UMass’s Hilary Puglia, who promptly unloaded them with a double.
“I have absolutely no idea what happened,” she said, as much blood as embarrassment flowing to her face. “I honestly haven’t played that bad at first base since I was 12 years old. I’m quite disappointed in myself, but I’m really glad that I could keep it up offensively.”
But offense only gets a team so far, Hayes said. Though she said her team could “hit with the best of ’em,” the skipper saw 10 Gilligan-ettes stranded on the base paths, and a few seem just as lost in the field.
“We should be out of the inning with those two errors at first base,” Hayes said. “With Josey [Mendez’s throwing error] we had the infield fly rule, we had the out, there was no need to throw that down there and give them extra runs. She’s trying to be aggressive, which I can appreciate. But at that point, when we were down by two, why?
“You know what? We’re not young anymore,” she continued. “How many games do we have under our belt at this point? We’re not young anymore, and we need to quit using that as some sort of excuse. We’re here to play Division-I ball, and this wasn’t Division-I ball today.”
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