In its first action since March 15, the Boston University softball team lost both games of a back-to-back double header against Lehigh University by a combined score of 20-2 on Wednesday.
The Terriers (6-18, 0-2 Patriot League) dropped the first game to the Mountain Hawks (21-3, 5-0 Patriot League) by a score of 9-1 after six innings of action.
“I don’t think the layoff affected us, obviously seeing live pitching for the first time in 17 days,” said BU coach Kathryn Gleason. “I don’t think it was the layoff, I just think it was our execution of just picking up ground balls, staying in front of them. I think seeing live pitching was something we needed to do.”
In Lehigh’s first inning at the plate, junior pitcher Lauren Hynes could not get it going. The San Diego native lasted just one-third of an inning, letting up four runs on three hits and two walks. One of those three hits was a grand slam hit by right fielder Jessica Calvini.
After that, Hynes was replaced by sophomore Makinna Akers, who limited the damage. Hynes has had a less than stellar start to the 2015 season, she is the Terriers’ workhouse on the mound. Posting a 4.82 ERA over 61 innings pitched, Hynes has also fallen victim to the Terriers’ poor defense. Coming into Wednesday’s games, only 42 of Hynes’ 61 runs were earned.
Akers finished the remaining five-and-one-third innings in the game, and although she let up an additional five runs, there were no walks issued by the Roseburg, Oregon native.
Meanwhile, BU could get no offensive traction whatsoever. It left one runner on base every inning, the lone run coming on a single by freshman right fielder Emma Wong that scored sophomore centerfielder Moriah Connolly.
“We’ll look at changing up the lineup, but I thought even in the first game, we were getting good looks, and we did get some base runners on,” Gleason said. “We just didn’t get an RBI hit when we needed to, or a squeeze bunt when we needed to.”
The second game got even worse for BU as it dropped the decision 11-1, mustering just two hits over five innings against pitcher Christine Campbell, who picked up her ninth win of the season.
In the first inning, the Mountain Hawks scored all 11 of their runs for the game. Designated player Vicky Lattanzio had three RBI in the first inning on two at bats.
“We had some good energy going into the game. I was just disappointed by our execution of the fundamentals,” Gleason said. “Lehigh’s a good team. They just put the ball in play, and we didn’t pick it up. I don’t think we pitched well leading off, and we were not aggressive enough at the plate.”
Again, BU failed to score more than one run. This time, the run came courtesy of an RBI double from second baseman Emily Felbaum in the 4th inning.
That RBI put Felbaum in a tie for the team lead with sophomore catcher Gabi Martinez, as they both have 12 for the year.
Going forward, Gleason said the message is clear for the Terriers.
“Just executing when you’re asked to do your job,” Gleason said. “Doing something different than you’ve already done. The good thing is that we know that, well weather permitting, that we’re going to be playing this weekend. We haven’t had the chance to make that quick turnaround in awhile, so we’ll practice Friday and look to bounce back on Saturday when we play [College of the] Holy Cross.”
