Despite its recent improvements in defensive play, the Boston University softball team fell to the College of the Holy Cross 6-4 on Tuesday because of an error and a wild pitch that led to four runs.
“We were really good for all but about one inning,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik. “We played a really good game and just had a little letdown. We had an opportunity to get out of the inning and ended up giving up four runs, and that’s the difference.”
The Terriers (27-13, 9-3 America East) fell behind early when sophomore pitcher Whitney Tuthill (8-6) gave up a first-inning home run to opposing pitcher Camille Trainor. It was Trainor’s first round-tripper of the season.
BU took the lead in the top of the fourth after three quiet innings. Senior center fielder April Setterlund tied the score on a shot to center field for her seventh home run of the year. Freshman third baseman Megan Volpano followed that up with a double to left field. She advanced to third base on a wild pitch by Trainor and scored on a double by redshirt freshman first baseman Chelsea Kehr.
The lead was short-lived, though, as Holy Cross (16-22, 8-6 Patriot League) would tack on another run in the bottom of the inning. Trainor once again got on base with a single. After a walk and a fielder’s choice, the Crusaders had runners on first and third with two out. Senior Erin Fleming then singled to right field to even up the score.
Once again, BU took a lead in the top of the fifth on the backs of Setterlund and Volpano. Redshirt freshman Jayme Mask singled to third base with one out and stole second to get the inning going. She then advanced to third base on a groundout to the pitcher. Setterlund, who ended the day 3-for-3 with two RBIs, singled up the middle to score Mask. Volpano then stepped up to the plate and hit her second double of the day to score Setterlund.
Volpano, who was named the AE Rookie of the Week, has gone 10-for-15 in the past four games.
“She’s been swinging the bat really well,” Rychcik said. “That’s why she’s hitting in the four spot behind April, because I know her capabilities and I know she’s got a really good swing on her. She has just been playing really well as of late and it’s good for us.”
Defensive woes would derail BU’s lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Tuthill gave up a leadoff single to right before getting two outs. With a runner on third, Tuthill walked Trainor who proceeded to steal second.
Senior Keeley Seniuk then hit a ball to freshman shortstop Brittany Clendenny that was not fielded cleanly, scoring one run and putting runners on the corners. After Seniuk stole second, Tuthill gave up a single to right by sophomore Sam Fregenti to give the Crusaders a 5-4 lead.
Rychcik put sophomore hurler Erin Schuppert in for Tuthill after the single. Schuppert threw a wild pitch, moving the runner to third, then gave up a single to score the final run of the game.
“We had four plays, four opportunities to get out of that inning and we just didn’t get the play made,” Rychcik said. “There were a couple of balls, they weren’t errors or anything, but they were opportunities for plays to get out of the inning. We just didn’t do it. If you give a team that many opportunities, any team, they’re going to hurt you… We just took a little time off. We thought the game was in hand maybe for an inning and it kind of got us. Hopefully, lesson learned that we can’t take any time off.”
With runners on second and third, the Terriers had an opportunity to come back and tie the game in the seventh inning. However, Volpano’s hard-hit ball to third lead to a double play to end the game.
“It all came down to, make a play,” Rychcik said. “Sometimes that’s how it works where you score five runs on five hits and sometimes it takes 10 or 12 hits to get those five runs in. Some days are different than others. We didn’t make that play and it cost us.”
