The Boston University softball team put on a gutsy, 12-inning performance Saturday that ended in a 6-5 victory for the Terriers in the first of three games against Stony Brook University. However, the win was a distant memory for BU for the rest of the series. The Seawolves took the second game Saturday in a 6-3 win and pounded the Terriers in a 6-1 rout on Sunday.
‘We unfortunately played our worst game of the year,’ BU coach Shawn Rychcik said of Sunday’s loss, the Terriers’ Senior Day. ‘But we know there’s a lot more season to play.’
The series loss is a setback for the Terriers (30-15), dropping them to 8-5 and third in the America East Conference. Stony Brook (30-9) remains first overall with an 11-3 conference record.
Seniors Shayne Lotito and Melissa Dubay powered the Terriers’ offense through the team’s two games Saturday. Lotito had four hits and two RBIs in the two games, and her homer in the bottom of the seventh forced extra innings in the first game. Dubay had three hits and two RBIs on Saturday, and was plated for the game-winning run in Game One.
Returning from injury, sophomore April Setterlund went 3-for-5 in the batter’s box, and her 13th double of the year in the first game tied the single-season record. She recorded four hits over two games Saturday.
‘Anytime you lose a .400 hitter, it hurts you,’ Rychcik said of Setterlund’s absence.
Although it was the offense that kept the Terriers alive in the first game, redshirt junior Cassidi Hardy’s extra-innings complete-game effort was a testament to her endurance. Through 12 innings, she allowed five runs, three of them earned, and 10 hits. The Terrier ace threw 157 pitches, 110 of which were strikes.
In the first inning, Hardy let up a single to center field, but would allow no more hits that inning. In the bottom of the first, Setterlund recorded her double and reached home on a single to right-center field by Dubay.
Stony Brook opened the game up in the third, plating four runners on four hits. BU immediately responded in the bottom of the inning. Setterlund’s single to left field loaded the bases, and freshman Emily Roesch’s walk sent Hudson home. Lotito scored on a wild pitch to cut the Seawolves’ lead to one. Setterlund scored on a fly out, tying the game at 4-4.
The Seawolves gained the lead for the second time in the fifth inning. Senior Kelsi Fanelli’s sacrifice bunt plated junior Vicky Kavitsky. Stony Brook nearly escaped with the win, but Lotito belted her game-tying home run over the center-field fence in the seventh.
For the rest of the game, Hardy stepped up, allowing just two hits in the five extra innings.
In contrast to the earlier fireworks, the game’s finish was underwhelming. Seawolf junior Casey Jacobs let the game slip away when she hit senior Nora Militz with the bases loaded, sending Dubay to home plate.
In Game Two, Roesch ended an early scoring opportunity for Stony Brook when she tagged a base runner and threw to first to record a double play. Hudson scored BU’s first run of the game on an error in the third inning.
Senior Marissa Fleury doubled down the right-field line to send Fanelli in, giving the Seawolves the tying score in the fourth. BU took the lead again in the bottom of the inning on junior Rachel Hebert’s single.
Stony Brook again opened things up with a scoring run, this time in the fifth inning. The Seawolves scored four runs on five hits. BU would not respond like it did in the first game, falling 6-3.
The Terriers barely mustered any offense in the third game on Sunday. BU had just two hits in the contest. Dubay scored the Terriers’ only run of the game on an error in the seventh inning.
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