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Terriers tumble in weekend series with Hofstra

The Boston University softball team saw this weekend that too much Pride can cause its downfall.

America East rival Hofstra University won three of four games on Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday was a sweep for the Pride as they won the first game, 9-0, and the second, 13-5. Saturday saw the Pride win the first contest, 6-1, but the Terriers bounced back to take the second game, 3-1. BU saw its record fall below .500 to 10-11 (1-3 America East). The Terriers did not fare as well as coach Amy Hayes would have liked over the weekend, but she said she does not see the games being all that damaging to the Terriers’ ultimate goal.

“We still see ourselves in the conference championship against Hofstra at the end of the season,” Hayes said. “I think it’s tough to come out and open conference play against Hofstra. The competition in the conference should be weaker than it was this weekend.”

The Terriers will be looking for sophomore pitcher Robyn Horrick to recover the form that made her last season’s America East Rookie of the Year. She started and pitched 2 1/3 innings in the opener on Saturday, giving up six runs — five of them earned — and six hits. She started the opening frame again on Sunday, but couldn’t make it out of the first inning, allowing four runs on two hits while only getting one out.

“Horrick is battling through a bit of a back injury,” Hayes said. “In athletics, when they are sophomores, kids often go through a bit of a down note. Robyn is one of our toughest competitors. She’s got to fight through.”

On the positive side, senior hurler Robyn King pitched well this weekend, showing once more that she is more than capable of returning to the old form that last year earned her the America East Pitcher of the Year award. On Saturday, she struck out 10 in seven innings, while scattering three hits and giving up only one run, which was not earned.

Sophomore Tiffany Finateri also continued to impress with her work, prompting Hayes to say, “I still feel we have the best staff in the conference.” Despite the three losses, BU can take positives from what was hopefully its worst weekend of the season.

“Our hitting has been in a bit of a slump, but we seem to be coming out of it,” Hayes said. “We made adjustments at the plate before [Sunday’s] second game.”

Those adjustments helped redshirt sophomore Janine Valente go 2-for-3 with a home run — her first of the season — and three runs batted in. Also showing some strength at the plate were sophomore shortstop Kristin Knesek (2-for-3) and sophomore third baseman Karen Seidler (2-for-2).

“We played a lot better in that second game [Sunday],” Hayes said.

She also noted that despite giving up 13 runs, 10 of them earned, in five innings of work, she was happy with Finateri’s pitching. At the same time, Hayes saw room for improvement in the field.

“We can’t seem to come up with any big plays,” the first-year coach said. “And we have not been making all of the routine plays.

“It’s been difficult adjusting from being indoors for so long. In the Armory, they always get true bounces. But we can only use that excuse for so long.”

The Terriers face Brown University on Wednesday at Malvern Field, and they will be looking to improve upon their problem areas — especially in the field, while still maintaining improvement at the plate. They will also look to King, Horrick and Finateri to begin pitching like they did just last week.

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