With a sweep of University at Albany behind them, the Boston University softball team will look to hold on to its first-place spot in the America East Conference as it finishes out the regular season with four away games. During the three-game series against Albany, the Terriers (30-14, 12-3 AE) celebrated their four graduating seniors with a pregame ceremony and displayed all the improvements that BU has made over the course of the past two months.
“Everybody’s getting the championship trophy at the end of the year or nobody’s getting it,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik. “Everybody’s on the same page, pulling and pushing for each other. I think the seniors are a big part of that.”
April’s showers leave their mark
In her four years at BU, senior center fielder April Setterlund has created a monstrous career highlighted by her offensive production during her junior season. Setterlund leads the Terriers in batting with a .411 average, in doubles (12), slugging percentage (.732), on base percentage (.565) and walks (36). She is also second in the conference in hitting among players who have had over 100 at-bats.
“I knew she was going to be good,” Rychcik said of Setterlund. “She’s the best player I’ve ever recruited. She’s probably the best player ever at this program. I think the thing I’m most proud of above all that is what she’s done here – she’s cared about the program.”
On Saturday, Setterlund added another record to her belt when she broke the all-time hits mark during a doubleheader that saw her go 5-for-6 with a double and an RBI. So far this season, the Loews Senior CLASS finalist has also broken the all-time RBI record as well as the career runs record.
Rookie Terriers
Freshman catcher Amy Ekart joined a list that includes several of her teammates this week when she was named the AE Rookie of the Week for her performance against the Great Danes. Over the course of the weekend, Ekart hit two grand slams, one of which flew over the trees in left field. Ekart went a total of 9-for-14 during the series.
Ekart joins fellow freshmen third baseman Megan Volpano, shortstop Brittany Clendenny, pitcher Holli Floetker and redshirt freshman infielder Chelsea Kehr on the list of Terriers who have received the weekly accolade.
“It’s exciting,” Rychcik said. “I looked at this team and Jayme [Mask] had 9 games under her belt, Chelsea hadn’t played yet, I knew [junior infielder Emily Roesch] was going to be out which was going to put the freshman count to five, and I knew Holli was going to be on the mound and that was going to make it six.
“I looked at everybody and said, ‘this is going to be the best team I’ve ever coached.’ We hadn’t even played a game yet and I said, ‘this is the most talented team I’ve coached. I know it.’ I have a lot of belief in my freshmen.”
Near-perfect pitching
The Terriers hold the best ERA and win-loss record in the AE. So far this season, BU has a 2.13 ERA and has struck out 226 batters. The Terriers’ three main pitchers, sophomore Erin Schuppert, Floetker and sophomore Whitney Tuthill are second, third and fourth in the conference for ERA, respectively.
“It’s the best staff I’ve had,” Rychcik said. “They all work well off each other. They all have a little bit something different. I’m really pleased. I don’t know if I’ve had three pitchers throw like this ever here. It’s just nice to have that type of staff and everybody’s had a big game for us at some point. I don’t think there is a one, two or three on the staff. They’re all just really good pitchers.”
Redefining its defense
Whereas early in the season, BU faced many issues with its play in the field, the Terriers have increasingly improved their defensive play. Only a month ago, BU ranked fifth in the AE in fielding. The Terriers have slowly made their way up to third with a .958 fielding percentage.
Leading the charge in the field have been Clendenny and Volpano, whose defense has significantly improved throughout the course of the season. The two freshmen held down the right side of the infield against Albany with sharp plays and impressive throws.
“That goes back to their hard work,” Rychcik said. “Like I said a long time ago, we’re going to get better because I know their skill level. Megan made some really nice plays, Brittany in the second game had some backhands in the hole that are not made by half the teams in the country, maybe even less than that. It’s a matter of being disciplined.”
Casacci’s collision
During the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, junior left fielder Erica Casacci and Setterlund both went after a fly ball in left center field. What resulted was a grisly collision and a nearly impossible play. While Casacci had called the ball, Setterlund stuck out her glove and made the catch only for the two players to run into each other.
Casacci immediately rolled over and stood up while Setterlund stayed on the ground for a few seconds with the ball in her glove. Setterlund was fine and stayed in the game but Casacci was removed, and according to Rychcik, is day-to-day.
“I know she’s day-to-day and we’ll just kind of go from there and hope she’s available Thursday and if not, we’ll hope she’s available come Saturday,” Rychcik said.
Running rampant
Led by the speed of Setterlund and redshirt freshman Jayme Mask, the Terriers have stolen 73 bases this season on 83 attempts. Setterlund and Mask combined have stolen 47 of those bases, which accounts for over 60 percent of the team’s running game. They are followed by Casacci, who is a solid 7-for-7 on the base paths.
“We run,” Rychcik said. “That’s my philosophy. We want to put pressure on everybody. We run into outs, we run into some mistakes, but we’re going to put pressure on people and it’s gotten us games and bases.”
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