The Boston University softball team managed to stop its losing streak at three games Wednesday, thanks in part to the University of Vermont’s four errors in the second game of the teams’ doubleheader.
The Terriers (18-25, 6-2 in America East) split the twinbill with the Catamounts (5-24. 2-8), losing the first game 1-0, but taking the second, 5-2. It was the first time in 24 games that the Terriers had dropped one to the Catamounts.
“We should have taken two,” BU coach Amy Hayes said. “We’re better than that. We just didn’t necessarily come to play.”
Freshman Ashlee Freeman (11-12) took the loss for BU. Freeman pitched her 22nd complete game of the season and gave up only three hits in the loss. She had six strikeouts in the game.
Vermont’s Kara Massey got the win, allowing only four hits in the shutout.
Freeman’s fellow rookie Brittany Detwiler (5-8) picked up the win in the second game in her fourth complete game of the year, allowing four hits and a pair of earned runs.
“They both did really well today.” Hayes said. “It was unfortunate that Ashlee had to take the loss since she had a great game.”
Offense proved to be difficult for the Terriers in the first game. BU had only four hits and left 12 runners on base. In the third inning, designated player Erin McDonald flied out to left field with the bases loaded.
“We just didn’t get the timely hits when we needed them. The only time, I think, we got somebody to third was when we did a hit-and-run,” Hayes said.
The Terriers started the second game slowly, with only one hit in the first three innings and no runs through the fourth.
Sophomore Liz Alley, who Saturday broke BU’s record for home runs in a season, got no hits in five at-bats. Alley is now hitless in her last four games since setting the mark for
longballs.
The tide seemed to change in favor of the Terriers in the fourth inning, when junior DeKenya Williams smacked a triple. She then advanced to home after a wild pitch to right fielder Chiya Louie.
In the fifth inning, center fielder Abbey Pauley reached first base on an error. Next up to the plate was shortstop Jamie Haas, who hit a triple and sent Pauley home. A wild throw to the plate made it possible for the Haas to score, pushing the Terriers up 3-2.
A sense of déjá vu came to the BU softball field in the bottom of the fifth when DeKenya Williams came up to bat. Once again, the right-handed slugger hit the ball deep into the outfield for a three-bagger. Vermont’s left-fielder sent the ball flying wildly into the infield and Williams was able to score another unearned run.
“The bottom line is that we shouldn’t have to be taking advantage of people’s errors,” Hayes said. “We should be taking care of business on our own.”
The scores marked BU’s second late-game rally in two days. Tuesday, against the University of Connecticut, the Terriers scored six runs in the last two innings, but were unable to overcome the deficit in a 10-6 loss.
Hayes said members of the team need to ask themselves what they are doing in the later innings that they aren’t doing earlier in the game.
“It’s all about the amount of pressure you put on another team. Once we start to do that, people will hold a little bit,” Hayes said. “We’re not putting any pressure on them. We’re not hitting the ball in timely situations. There’s nothing much to fear of us.
“Hopefully we’ll be putting it together when the time is right,” Hayes added.
The Terriers hit the road for a three-game America East series against Stony Brook University this weekend. The team returns May 1 for its last home game of the season, against the University of Hartford.
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