After losing two of its last three conference games, the Boston University softball team hopes to get back on the winning track this weekend when it travels to Stony Brook University for a three-game set.
The Terriers (18-25, 6-2 America East) hit the road to take on the Seawolves (20-23, 6-3) in a doubleheader Saturday before playing one game on Sunday, and they’re hoping to regain the form that has carried them to the America East regular-season title in each of the last three seasons.
“It’s going to be really important for us to go down there and have a strong showing,” BU coach Amy Hayes said.
The Terriers, who have also taken the conference tournament championship the past two seasons, are showing signs that they are not invincible when it comes to league play. Saturday, the team dropped its first match in 11 games to Binghamton University, and on Wednesday, the Terriers suffered their first setback against the University of Vermont in more than eight years.
Hayes said the way the team plays this weekend will show who this squad really is.
“I think it’s going to be a weekend that will kind of teach ourselves who we are,” she said. “So hopefully we’ll take care of it.”
Taking care of the Seawolves, however, might not be easy. Stony Brook’s Angela Andrews was named the America East Pitcher of the Week Monday after allowing just one earned run in 14 innings in a series against Vermont. The sophomore has picked up the win 11 times in her last 15 games in the circle.
“Stony Brook’s a good team,” Hayes said. “They have a lot of good athletes on their team, but sometimes they struggle to put things together.”
The Terriers are having their own difficulties putting things together. Though the pitching has been stellar, BU has found it difficult to put runs on the scoreboard.
BU is being led offensively by pitcher Brittany Detwiler, who is batting a Ted Williams-esque .406, while shortstop Jamie Haas is second with a .352 batting average and a team-leading 45 hits.
To play well this series, the Terriers might need sophomore Liz Alley to snap out of her recent funk. Alley, who broke the BU record for home runs in a season Saturday, has been hitless since.
The Terriers are still minus Emily Varga, who has been injured all season, and Hayes said the team might have to go a little while without the right-handed utility player.
“She’s coming back,” Hayes said. “But I still don’t think she can quite hit and she shouldn’t be diving for balls in the outfield, which she tends to do sometimes because she’s so aggressive.”
Varga has played in 23 games this season, mostly as a pinch runner.
“We’re just going to have to watch her day to day,” Hayes added.
While the hitting has been spotty for the Terriers, the freshman pitching duo of Detwiler and Ashlee Freeman has been solid in the circle. Freeman (11-12) allowed only three hits in BU’s loss to Vermont, and Detwiler (5-8) gave up just four hits and two earned runs in BU’s win over the Catamounts.
Junior DeKenya Williams (2-5) has also served time in the circle. The California native started Tuesday against the University of Connecticut, but has spent much of her time in left field. Williams was responsible for two triples and two runs in Wednesday’s nightcap victory.
Despite BU’s dominance over the conference the last few years, Hayes said she does not feel pressure to capture the championship for a fourth straight year.
“Every team is a new team,” she said.
This is particularly true in the case of the Terriers. Eight of the 18 players wearing the scarlet and white are rookies.
“Our ultimate goal is [to win the conference again], but at this point, I just want us to get to the [conference] tournament,” Hayes said. “If it goes our way, it goes our way.”
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