The Boston University women’s softball team is eager to replicate its recent success.
In 2024, the Terriers won 53 games while going undefeated in conference play before going on to capture a seventh Patriot League title in program history and a stint in the NCAA Tournament.
The Terriers will have four captains leading the charge in 2025: senior outfielder Tyesha Williams, senior utility Sydney Pecoraro, junior infielder Brooke Deppiesse and junior pitcher Kasey Ricard.
Head coach Ashley Waters is entering her 10th season with the team, totaling 324 wins and six conference titles in that time.
With that experience and year-after-year dominance, Waters is deeply familiar with the competitive landscape of the conference and is expecting fierce competition.
“I think everyone’s a threat. I have a lot of respect for our conference and how they show up,” Waters said. “Everyone wants to beat everyone…and everyone wants to beat us, and that’s how we approach it.”
An attempt at a three-peat will be supported by a slate of new faces after only three regular starters return from the last campaign — Waters is already assured in the freshmen on her new-look squad.
“I think you’ll see Danika Nell on the mound. She’s just an incredible force,” Waters said. “We have [catcher/utility] Addie Lucier and [outfielder] Camryn Lyons [who have] both been incredible for us throughout the fall and have obviously shown that they can compete at this level.”
The veterans on the team have their sights set on tournament play — reasonably so, considering the team has been to the PL final in each of the last seven seasons.
“I’m always looking forward to the last week of the season,” Ricard said. “I think this team has a really good shot at making it all the way.”
Ricard has reason to feel confident at the individual level too.
She was recently awarded a preseason All-American honor and the No. 9 spot in Pitcher Power Rankings by D1Softball. The career 1.50 ERA pitcher also received a nod as Preseason Patriot League Softball Pitcher of the Year when major awards were announced last week.
Deppiesse was also listed 11th in power rankings for infielders by D1Softball after batting .360 in 2024.
The Terriers start their season with invitationals down the Atlantic coast in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina while New England defrosts.
“Those trips really help set us up for success later in the Patriot League,” Ricard explained. “It’s really important to play schools of higher caliber down south, and getting to play in the warmth for as long as we can will definitely help our game up here.”
Deppiesse echoed enthusiasm for the early-season trips while noting their importance for team bonding and finding chemistry early on.
“Our infield is all new, we kind of had to start from scratch,” she said. “[We’re] working on chemistry…We had a lot of good people come in the infield, so [I’m] taking them under my wing, and [making] everyone feel comfortable while still trying to get better every day.”
Deppessie’s responsibilities extend beyond the infield. As a team captain, she understands what is expected of her in a leadership capacity, especially on a young team.
“It’s a long season, we always play 60 plus games, so knowing that one game doesn’t define you, one bad inning doesn’t define you and [I’m] trying to make sure that [my teammates] are mentally strong to go into the season knowing that they’re here for a reason,” she added.
The roster isn’t the only thing that will look new come the start of the season — The Boston University Softball Field in Allston has been through three phases of renovations since 2019, most recently changing the grass over to turf.
“I think it’s an amazing opportunity that I get to…be part of one of the teams that gets to play on [the turf],” Ricard said. “I think it’s a testament to how much our school cares and the athletic department cares about us.”
The Terriers will test out the new surface in their home-opening double-header against Yale on March 18 before traveling to Pennsylvania to take on Bucknell in their first Patriot League matchup, where they are favorites to take the top spot in the regular season. They landed comfortably at the top of the PL preseason poll with 70 points from 10 first-place votes. Lehigh, the last team to beat BU in the PL final in 2023, came in at second in the poll.
BU will start to test its chemistry and its reputation when the season starts on Friday in Fort Myers, Florida as part of the FGCU Kickoff Classic. The Terriers take on Long Island University at 10 a.m. before meeting crosstown rivals Boston College at 12:15 p.m.
