Seeing pitch after pitch and hitting foul ball after foul ball, Boston University first baseman Alex Heinen was locked in a third-inning battle with Providence College pitcher Christina Ramirez.
By about the third foul ball in a row, Heinen, at the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, didn’t stray away from her normal strategy. Instead, the freshman looked to keep things simple with her team down one run.
“I was really just trying to focus on seeing the ball and just trying to get a good part of the bat on it,” Heinen said.
Down to two strikes, Heinen did just that, connecting with the ball right off the sweet spot, tucking a bases-clearing double just inside the left-field foul line, which proved to be the game-winning hit in the BU (9-11) softball team’s 10-2 win over Providence (10-11).
But that was not all Heinen contributed in BU’s fifth consecutive win, as she finished the day 2-for-3 with the double, a home run and six RBIs.
It was a career day for the San Clemente, California native albeit in a so far brief 20-game run with the Terriers. With just two swings of the bat, Heinen nearly matched what her season RBI total (seven) was coming into the game.
With a smile from ear to ear after the game, Heinen was almost at a loss for words when describing not only her excitement about her individual accomplishments, but also her happiness over the team’s win in its home opener.
“It was really good,” Heinen said. “Everything was falling into place. The pitchers threw an amazing game. It was just coming together, great hits and everything. It just felt good just being all together.”
BU head coach Ashley Waters, in her first season at the helm at BU, discussed earlier this week how the Terriers are finally coming together offensively, with hitters all throughout the lineup coming up in key situations, particularly in RBI spots.
Heinen has been one of those hitters to help lengthen the lineup and made sure that trend continued, at least for one more game.
“The thing with Alex, she has so much power and so much raw power,” Waters said. “She just needs to stay connected, and today was a brilliant job.”
If that power wasn’t clear in the third inning, it was in Heinen’s next plate appearance during the fourth when she put the game out of reach.
Facing a new pitcher in senior Kiara Amos, Heinen said there wasn’t a particular pitch that she was looking for in the at-bat, but just one that she could drive somewhere. Heinen got that pitch and made the most of it, as her home run cleared the right-center field wall and landed high into the bushes a few feet behind the chain-link fence.
More than just ensuring BU’s mercy-rule win over the Friars, Heinen’s hit was her first career home run with the Terriers and just the team’s second long ball of the season.
Staying patient and keeping her mind clear during at-bats are things that Heinen said she will look to continue as her rookie season progresses.
“I’ve been trying to make adjustments to things,” Heinen said. “I’ve been working a lot with Coach during practice, specifically on that and just seeing the ball … just trying to not think too much and just try to see it and do what I can with it.”
Waters noted that although a lot of Heinen’s success comes from natural ability, her work in the batting cage at practice should not be overlooked.
“She stayed after yesterday to hit extra,” Waters said. “It’s nice to see when they work hard and there’s a reward at the end of it. And I thought she had a brilliant day, but that’s hard work.”
Andrew is one of the men's hockey beat writers for The Daily Free Press. He was Sports Editor during the Spring 2014 semester and has also interned with NESN, WEEI.com and SportsNet New York. Follow him on Twitter at @squidthoughts for sports-related tweets and random quotes from "The Office," or you can contact him via email at arbattif@bu.edu.
