Rain, Mask’s speed wreak havoc for Terriers, opponents

Winner of four straight and five of its last six, the Boston University softball team has had quite a bit to be happy about lately.

The Terriers (23-12, 6-3) are second in the America East Conference in batting average (.280) and on-base percentage (.371) and own what is by far the best team ERA (2.19) in the league. They will next take on Harvard University at home on Thursday at 4 p.m., when they will look to avenge a close 2-1 loss on March 22 while hopefully avoiding more of the Boston area’s recent rain.

Rain, rain, go away

Thanks to several rainstorms in the last week, a six-game non-conference stretch was turned into a brief three-game break from AE play for the Terriers. The team could not play a game against Providence College in Rhode Island last Thursday, and had Sunday’s home doubleheader against Fairfield University canceled after Saturday night’s heavy rain.

Although they were non-conference games, they are significant and frustrating lost opportunities for the young BU squad.

“The more games we play the better we get. We scheduled 56 games and we’ll be far from it when it’s all said and done,” BU coach Shawn Rychcik said. “It’s disappointing we lost those games and I’d like to have them back, but there’s no way to make them up. It makes things tough.”

The weather also caused the Terriers to miss four games in two days at the Georgia Tech Buzz Classic on March 5-6.

Records in review

Last Thursday, when senior center fielder April Setterlund drove in two Terriers in the middle of a BU comeback, she did more than just narrow the deficit. She solidified her place in the BU record books – again.

The two RBIs gave Setterlund 126 on her career, passing the previous mark set by 2007 graduate Chiya Louie. That’s just another item on the laundry list of accomplishments for Setterlund, who broke the BU career runs record last week against University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

“I didn’t even know about it,” Rychcik said of the RBI record. “I don’t know if she was aware of it or not, probably not…The game was the most important part in her mind.”

Also this weekend, redshirt freshman right fielder Jayme Mask tied the single-game record for stolen bases with three in the team’s 9-2 win over University of Rhode Island.

According to Rychcik, Mask’s speed is irrefutably a game-changing skill.

“We can drive [Mask] in without having to give up an out. She can’t run every time, she’ll get thrown out here and there, but it gives us an opportunity to advance a base without an out,” Rychcik said. “Her speed has an effect on the game, there’s no doubt about it. You can’t really coach it, you can’t defend it, it’s something you got to have and it’s nice having it on our side.”

Mask also stole three bases in a single game earlier this month when BU downed University of Maine 3-2 on April 2.

Down the stretch

With just three weekends left in the regular season, BU will need to make up a bit of ground in the America East standings to make sure its status as preseason AE favorite comes to fruition. The team stands two games behind first-place University at Albany and a half game ahead of third-place Binghamton University.

Next weekend, the Terriers will play three games against lowly University of Hartford before hosting Albany for three games April 30-May 1 and visiting Binghamton for a three-game set May 7-8. While all three series are important, the last two will have a critical say in who is crowned the 2011 AE regular-season champion.

“They’re all big because if we stumble against Hartford, those don’t matter at the end,” Rychcik said. “We play one series at a time, and we’ll do everything we can to beat Hartford three times, then we’ll worry about Albany and worry about Binghamton at the very end.

“We’re in a decent spot. I think if we win out the whole thing we’ll win the regular season, but it’s going to be hard to do. Our opponents are playing really well, so we’re going to have to battle.”