The Boston University softball team collected its 23rd consecutive win Sunday following a three-game weekend series sweep against Colgate University.
The Terriers (34-13, 12-0 Patriot League) captured a 13-7 victory over the Raiders (17-20, 7-5 PL) at Eaton Street Field in Hamilton, New York.
Although the Terriers’ win streak is the longest in NCAA Division I softball, head coach Ashley Waters commended her team’s ability to focus on each game individually.
“Our goals are to win the regular season and to host the Patriot League Championships in Boston, and then to win the tournament,” Waters said. “At the end of the day, [the team knows] they have to win every single game in order to get everyone to come to Boston to have to play in our home field.”
Neither team tallied a run in the first inning before BU opened the scoring in the top of the second with two runs in consecutive at-bats.
Junior pitcher Lizzy Avery posted a strong start, forcing a flyout and two groundouts to hold the Raiders scoreless through the third inning. Meanwhile, graduate student center fielder Jen Horita, who now has hits in 17 of her last 18 games, continued her dominance with a RBI single to add to the Terriers’ lead in the top of the third. Graduate student utility player Marina Sylvestri collected her first RBI of the game on a groundout before a single from senior infielder Nicole Amodio drove home senior left fielder Emily Gant to extend BU’s lead to five.
Although junior catcher Audrey Sellers picked up a run in the fourth on an error by Colgate, the Raiders showed more fight than they had in their previous two games against the Terriers. Colgate sophomore infielder Kara Fusco nailed a single into the right-field alley before senior infielder Morgan Farrah launched a two-run home run.
Junior pitcher Allison Boaz stepped into the circle to replace Avery as the Raiders’ offense picked up steam in the bottom of the fifth.
Colgate immediately tagged Avery with three runs, cutting the BU lead down to 7-5. First, junior right fielder Steph Jacoby hit a RBI groundout to score junior infielder Rachel Carney before Fusco and Farrah added on RBI singles of their own, but the Terriers regained their footing in the top of the sixth.
“[Avery and Boaz] were able to grind it out and finish it, especially with our offense stepping up the way they did,” Waters said.
The Terriers faced the entirety of Colgate’s four-women pitching rotation in the sixth while padding their lead with four more tallies — two from a single by sophomore infielder Kayla Roncin and two more after a Sylvestri pop-fly was fumbled.
The Raiders managed two runs on Boaz in the sixth — another RBI groundout by Jacoby and a score on a wild pitch — but Boaz held Colgate to zero in the final inning. Gant hit a two-run home run to polish off the Terriers’ win.
Roncin led her team with three hits, improving her league-leading batting average to .442. Sylvestri notched a team-high four RBIs in the game and junior infielder Caitlin Coker finished her weekend with seven hits.
“[Coker] is someone that is a great fire-starter for us,” Waters said. “Between her and [Roncin], that’s an offensive spark. Anyone else that joins in on that is just going to make us that much stronger.”
The Terriers will be on the road again this Saturday as they travel to face the United States Military Academy at 12 p.m.
