In what was the final road trip before the Boston University softball team finally returns to Boston to play on home soil, the squad swept Lafayette College in three games, but dropped a preceding game to Lehigh University.
The Terriers (12-24, 4-8 Patriot League) not only took all three games against the Leopards (3-31, 1-14 Patriot League), but also notched the program’s 800th win with Sunday’s 10-2 victory.
“It’s a great accomplishment for the program, and it’s a huge credit and testament to the alumni and the people who played here before us,” said BU coach Kathryn Gleason. “We’re just lucky that we were the ones who got that 800th win, but it’s all thanks to those teams before us.”
Before the Terriers could get there, though, they had to go through Lehigh (30-6, 11-1 Patriot League), owners of the best record in the Patriot League, on Friday. BU could not gain any traction on the day, only producing four hits in a 3-0 loss. Mountain Hawk senior Emily Bausher hurled a complete game for her team, which included no walks and six strikeouts.
While Friday’s game proved challenging for BU, the team fared better in all facets of the game in the weekend series against the Leopards.
“We had some great pitching performances by both [junior] Melanie [Russell] and [sophomore] Makinna [Akers] and some good staff wins,” Gleason said of her two pitchers, who took full responsibility of the pitching circle in the series.
In the three games against the Leopards, Russell and Akers combined for a 2.70 ERA while striking out 11 in 20 innings of work.
Akers started game one of Saturday’s doubleheader, where she tossed five innings and gave up just one run on the way to her fifth victory of the season.
She was helped out on offense by two home runs coming from the middle of the lineup. In the top of the fifth inning, with two runners on base and one out, sophomore catcher Gabi Martinez belted a homer to deep center field, making the score 7-1 in favor of the Terriers.
In the top of the seventh inning, with the bases loaded, senior second baseman Emily Felbaum launched one to center as well, cashing in on the grand slam opportunity and putting the Terriers in the driver’s seat with a 12-1 lead, which would prove be more than enough for the victory.
The second game of the doubleheader featured much less scoring and included an intense pitchers’ duel between Russell and Lafayette’s Lindsey Cherry.
With scoring opportunities looking very difficult to come by, the Terriers came up to hit in the top of the fifth with Felbaum and her recent power stroke leading off. Felbaum promptly crushed a home run to right field and gave BU a 1-0 lead.
In the next inning, BU would score without the benefit of a hit thanks to sophomore shortstop Brittany Younan. The Chico, California native led off with a walk, stole second and scored on a sacrifice fly.
“That speed that the top of our lineup has really puts the defense on its heels,” Gleason said. “They have the green light, so you never know when they’re going to go, and eventually it leads to runs.”
That speed certainly put pressure on Lafayette’s defense, and in the top of the seventh inning, the Leopards committed two costly errors that would lead to BU scoring the eventual game-winning run, courtesy of a freshman outfielder Emma Wong RBI single.
Lafayette battled back and scored two runs in the bottom of the inning, but Akers was able to slam the door and record her first save of the season, and more importantly, secure the 3-2 win for the Terriers.
The final game of the series turned into another slugfest for BU, as the Terriers reached double digits in the run category once again and came out 10-2 winners in six innings.
Felbaum was at it again in game three, driving in three more runs on three hits, giving her five hits in 11 at bats and eight RBI in the series.
“Our offense really stepped up in the series, and we played really good defense,” Gleason said. “Overall, it was a great weekend.”
