The Boston University softball team’s Wednesday home game against the University of Maine has been postponed due to rain. The game, which had been scheduled for 3 p.m., will now be played at the same time on Thursday.
The one-day wait only builds anticipation for a matchup between a pair of teams similar in talent level and steeped in desperation. The third place Terriers and the fourth place Black Bears are each clawing to stay in the postseason picture, as the America East Softball Championship only affords spots to four teams.
The Terriers find themselves in a static place in the standings. At 8-5 in the America East Conference, the Terriers are in third place behind Stony Brook University (11-3 AE) and University at Albany (9-3 AE). Any opportunity for progress will require at least two losses from each.
A spurt of momentum down the stretch can also factor into how well a team will fare come tourney time. The Black Bears, left out of the playoff picture last season, have an opportunity to prove their legitimacy within the America East Conference.
America East Handouts
The three weekly America East honors were awarded Monday to a player from each of the top-three teams in the league. Two recipients received awards based on the merit of their involvement in the Terriers’ momentum-shifting series this weekend against Stony Brook.
The player who inflicted more damage upon the Terriers than anyone else, Stony Brook junior shortstop Vicki Kavitsky, took Player of the Week honors for the second time this season. Including two wins against BU, Kavitsky led the first place Seawolves to a 5-2 record this week. She accrued gaudy numbers along the way, hitting .458 with five RBI and 13 runs.
Kavitsky helped the Seawolves manage a split with the Terriers in the series-opening doubleheader on Saturday. In Game One, her two-run homer in the second inning helped the Seawolves grab an early lead.
She played an equally active role on defense after the game went to extras.
After making an acrobatic diving stop on a ball hit by BU freshman second-baseman Emily Roesch, Kavitsky demonstrated immense composure and self-awareness by gunning down sophomore outfielder April Setterlund at the plate. Setterlund had tried to take advantage of Kavitsky’s post-dive disorientation to sneak an extra base, and the win.
And to think, this 3-for-6 effort came in the weekend’s lone Seawolves loss.
In the night cap, she knocked in two of Stony Brook’s six runs on a fifth inning-homer to redeem the Seawolves. A 2-for-2 effort in Sunday game helped seal a 6-1 victory. The outcome was rarely in doubt, and Stony Brook came out of the weekend with steady control of the league standings.
Boston University freshman Emily Roesch was on the receiving end of the weekend’s two-loss swing. But Roesch’s performance on the week overall was enough to earn a fourth Rookie of the Week award, her second in a row. She batted .333 with three RBI and four runs.
Roesch batted fourth in BU coach Shawn Rhychcik’s lineup in each of the Stony Brook games. It’s a big deal for a freshman to even play in the most crucial series of the season, much less bat in the spot counted on to steer the team’s production.
On the year, Roesch has the fifth highest batting average on the team (.287). Her four homers tie four teammates for second, in addition to 14 runs and 18 RBI.
Albany junior pitcher Leah McIntosh won her fourth Pitcher of the Week. She remains BU red-shirt junior Cassidi Hardy’s biggest competitor in the pursuit of America East Pitcher of the Year. But while Hardy was gutting out a 12-inning, three-run effort in BU’s extra-inning win in the first game against Stony Brook, McIntosh was spotless. She threw her fourth perfect game this season and went 3-0 with a save in 20 scoreless innings.
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