The Boston University softball team swept Lafayette College Saturday at the BU Softball Field.
BU (31-7, 6-0 Patriot League) extended their eight-game win streak to 10 with back-to-back wins over the Leopards (4-26-1, 1-8 PL).
The Terriers dominated in their first game 8-0, but the second game was a much closer 4-2 win. The Terriers also remained perfect against Lafayette at the conclusion of the three-game weekend, with a 28-0 all-time record against the Leopards dating back to 2014.
“I’m happy with how we played. I thought our pitchers did a really good job battling,” BU head coach Ashley Waters said. “[The Leopards] definitely don’t have fear to swing the bat. They bring a lot of energy, and that’s contagious.”
Game One
After going down in order quietly in the first inning, the Terriers got their offense going in the second. Graduate student outfielder Emily Gant singled and stole a base to jumpstart BU’s first scoring play before moving to third on a groundout. After a walk and another stolen base by junior left fielder Kate Pryor, both Gant and Pryor came around to score on a Lafayette error.
In the fourth inning, graduate student first baseman Nicole Amodio sent the ball over the fence for her second home run of the season to push the Terriers’ lead to three.
BU kept the offense going in the fifth. Despite a quick out on the first pitch, the Terriers worked three consecutive walks, showing patience at the plate. With the bases now loaded, an infield single saw senior third baseman Caitlin Coker run home and moved the other runners over. Gant scored her second run on a sacrifice fly, bringing the score to a 5-0 Terrier lead.
“If someone is going to give us bases, we have to be disciplined enough to take them,” Waters said. “We did a good job of actually getting on base and then had some productive outs where we actually moved people, advanced people, which we haven’t been doing.”
Coker added three more RBIs on an inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the 6th inning. The result had the same effect as a walkoff — Lafayette surrendered to the run-ahead rule, which is the mercy rule that can be put into place after the fifth inning when a team is up at least eight runs.
Despite the Lafayette dugout’s noise whenever their team was up to bat, senior pitcher Allison Boaz silenced the Leopard hitters. She collected five strikeouts and only walked one batter, which came in the first inning. Efficiency was Boaz’s strength, as she only threw 67 pitches through six innings of work and only gave up two hits.
Game Two
Unlike the first game, BU created a lot of traffic on the bases early in the second game. After a leadoff walk in the first inning, junior shortstop Kayla Roncin doubled and Coker followed with a single that drove the walk home for the first run of the game. A groundout scored Roncin, and Coker crossed the plate herself on a single. The team jumped to an early 3-0 lead.
Lafayette freshman first baseman Megan Coyle cut down the lead to a run with a two-run homer.
The Terriers answered with insurance. Senior catcher Audrey Sellers walked to get the Terriers going in the second inning, and she scored on a Roncin triple, giving the Terriers a 4-2 lead. The score did not change in the ensuing five innings.
After the early home run, freshman pitcher Kasey Ricard settled in. Waters said it was like the home run sharpened her pitching. Like Boaz in the first game, Ricard only gave up two hits. She walked two but managed to ring up 11 batters. With a high number of strikeouts comes a high pitch count — Ricard had nearly double the number of pitches as Boaz with 124 in seven innings.
“If we’re taking 11 [hitters] out, and not even putting [the ball] in play, I’ll take that any day,” Waters said.
Following another victory against Lafayette on Sunday to complete the weekend sweep, the Terriers will host Harvard University for a doubleheader matchup at home on Tuesday starting at 3 p.m.
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