A walk-off single from freshman third baseman Kaitlin Sahlinger gave the Boston University softball team the 2-1 victory over in-state rival University of Massachusetts Lowell Wednesday afternoon, bringing its win streak to eight games.
On Wednesday, the Terriers’ (17-24, 7-8 Patriot League) pitchers, sophomore Makinna Akers and junior Melanie Russell, continued their dominant stretch while the usually-effective Terrier offense stagnated.
Akers started in the circle for the Terriers, allowing just one hit in her first two innings of work. After allowing one run in the third, Akers bounced back to pitch a perfect fourth and fifth inning. She would finish with four strikeouts on the day. Russell, who walked away with the win, came in in the sixth inning, looking just as powerful, retiring the River Hawks (17-30) by getting them to fly out in order.
After leading off the seventh inning with a double, Lowell senior Abby Jamieson reached third with one out on a wild pitch. Russell was able to then strike out junior Emilia Davies and get senior Melissa King to pop out to senior second baseman Emily Felbaum, opening the door for the walk-off victory in the bottom of the inning.
Coming into Wednesday, the pitching staff’s combined ERA was an impressive 3.50 in 61 innings, but seven more innings of one-run ball against the River Hawks brought that total down 25 points, to 3.25 with Akers and Russell at 2.28 and 2.31, respectively.
BU coach Kathryn Gleason said that during the stretch, the confidence and trust between the pitching staff and the rest of the defense has increased.
“It’s just a confidence thing for them,” she said. “[With] just getting outside and practicing and playing on dirt — on our own field. I think they’re just gaining confidence as they go. I think the Colgate [University] weekend was a big deal for both of them — to get in there and trust their defense. So I think it’s a combination of [them] trusting their defense and their defense is trusting them and just coming up and making plays for them.”
Sahlinger said she was also pleased by the pitching’s efforts, noting that their dominance makes the batters’ jobs easier.
“It’s been great,” she said. “Especially this last weekend and then today, they both had great appearances on the mound, and it’s been really helpful. Going into the dugout, it just gets us really hyped up, and it’s really nice to have some good pitching on the mound. It gets us ready to go up to the plate, and it gives us a lot of confidence too. We’re not getting down runs and then having to chase any.”
At the dish against River Hawks pitcher Erica Armenti, the Terriers struggled for the first time in recent memory. In the first inning, BU seemed to get its foolproof offensive formula working. Sophomore centerfielder Moriah Connolly led the game off with a walk and after two outs, stole second. In the next at-bat, sophomore catcher Gabi Martinez drove her in. It appeared as though the offense was going to continue its impressive run, but Armenti was able to bring them to a complete halt. After tallying a run, the Terriers were held hitless until Sahlinger’s game-winning double in the bottom of the seventh.
In every other game during the win streak, the Terrier bats have had much success with runners in scoring position. On Wednesday, the Terriers didn’t for a simple reason — they didn’t have any opportunities. Aside from Martinez driving Connolly in the first, no other Terrier was able to get past first base against Armenti.
While the offense was disappointing on Wednesday, Gleason said she was happy her team was able to pull out the win.
“I thought we had some pretty good at-bats,” she said. “We had some walks. We had people get on base. We just couldn’t bunt them over, even in the first inning. But you gotta grind it out, and this time of year, it doesn’t matter what it looks like. You just need to get that ‘W’ on the board.”
