Chiya Louie’s three-run home run in the sixth inning sparked a last-minute rally in the Boston University softball team’s game against the University of Connecticut Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Terriers (17-24, 5-1 America East) from suffering a 10-6 loss, their second straight.
The Huskies (19-18) jumped out to an early lead at the UConn Softball Field, scoring five runs before the Terriers were able to put one on the scoreboard. The loss comes one day after the Terriers lost their first game to Binghamton University in 11 contests with the Bearcats.
“I think a loss sucks,” said senior outfielder Abbey Pauley. “We can’t have infields letting people get on base and we can’t have the outfield throwing the ball where it doesn’t need to go.”
Pauley, who batted .600 in last weekend’s games against Binghamton, went 2-3 against the Huskies. She smacked a single in her first at-bat of the game, but was caught stealing second for the first out.
Sophomore Liz Alley, who tied the BU record for home runs in a season on Saturday with her 10th, was intentionally walked in the first inning, but the first baseman would go 0-3 on the day. Sophomore Jamie Haas, who has a .344 batting average thus far this season, had two hits in four at-bats.
Junior DeKenya Williams (2-5) took the loss for BU, giving up five hits and five runs with one strikeout. Freshman Ashlee Freeman took over for Williams in the fifth inning to stop the bleeding, but she gave up five hits and one earned run in relief.
Two of the Huskies’ 10 scores came in the fourth inning, when Jen Ward hit the first of the Huskies’ three home runs on the afternoon, a two-run blast.
In the sixth inning, Louie slammed her eighth home run of the season, driving home pinch-runner Emily Varga and Pauley, cutting UConn’s lead to 5-3.
But the Huskies didn’t take long to answer. After DiBiase scored on an error and a sacrifice fly by Ashleigh Campen sent Holly Calcagno home, Suzy de Bary knocked a three-run homer to cap a five-run sixth inning, putting the score at 10-3.
“They definitely capitalized on our mistakes,” Pauley said. “In the bottom of the sixth inning, we gave them a lot of those runs.”
In the last inning, three consecutive singles loaded the bases for the Terriers, and an error sent both Pauley and pinch runner Tara Hodge across home plate as unearned runs. Shortstop Jamie Haas, who reached third after the error, scored later on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 10-6. But the Huskies closed the door on BU’s attempt at a comeback.
“I think we just need to get out there and be consistent,” Pauley said. “We’re making it too hard for ourselves out there.”
Tuesday’s game was the last non-conference game for the Terriers, but Pauley said the team did not feel less pressure facing an opponent out of the America East, which they have all but dominated over the past two seasons.
“Non-conference games matter just as much,” she said. “Any team that we play up here in the Northeast, it’s just as important as playing in the America East.”
The Terriers are now back in Boston and ready for a doubleheader against the University of Vermont (4-23-1, 1-7 in America East) today, their seventh and eighth conference games of the season. The Terriers have won the America East conference the last two years and hope to win it again.
“We have to come out and hit the ball well,” Pauley said. “Our pitchers have to pitch well. We just have to play well on both sides of the ball.”