The Boston University softball team leads America East in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and runs, among several other offensive categories.
But on Tuesday against Boston College, the worst team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Terriers managed just one run through 15 innings of play. That run came on a solo homer from senior first baseman Rachel Hebert, who had two of BU’s three hits in the second game of the day. Aside from Hebert, the team struggled at the plate.
BC freshman pitcher Nicole D’Argento pitched capably in the first game of the doubleheader, throwing nine strikeouts, but the Terrier batters often made her look better than she was. A handful of those strikeouts came when BU chased pitches that bounced in the dirt or visibly missed the outside corner of the strike zone.
The Terriers’ frustration and lack of discipline at the plate was perhaps best exemplified by freshman pitcher Whitney Tuthill’s last at-bat of the first game. After taking a strike, Tuthill ripped a long shot to left field that landed just outside of the foul pole. The next pitch would have required a nine-iron to hit properly, but Tuthill chased it anyway and struck out swinging.
Of course, Tuthill, a potential power hitter who has four home runs on the year, wasn’t the only member of the team to misjudge a pitch. Most of the batters in the lineup either went down looking or swung at pitches they couldn’t possibly have hit at one point. Junior center fielder April Setterlund was held hitless in consecutive games, which has not happened since March 13 and 14 against St. Joseph’s University and the University of Toledo.
In general, the offense that scored 11 runs against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County last weekend was nowhere to be seen on Tuesday.
“When you start to press a little, it gets worse and worse,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik of the team’s frustration. “I think you kind of lose track of the things you need to do at the plate. I thought our zone was really bad in the first game. We swung at a lot of balls and we usually swing at strikes, so that was disappointing. We hit some balls hard, but we got jammed a lot. In the second game, we didn’t really hit the balls on the screws other than the home run.”
It may be telling that in addition to the 13 offensive categories in which the Terriers lead the conference, they are also out in front in strikeouts, with 251 compared to second-place UMBC’s 220. The power of hitters like Setterlund, Hebert and, recently, sophomore shortstop Emily Roesch has been consistent enough that the strikeouts haven’t hurt the team much, but in close games like Tuesday’s, swinging wildly for the fences can be a problem.
Then again, BU also ranks first in walks, with 114 to UMBC’s 105. They are capable of being disciplined, and often rattle opposing pitchers enough early in games that they can afford to sit back and wait for a good pitch. But in close games, they need to show more composure at the plate than they did against D’Argento and Gage on Tuesday.
“We’ve hit those pitchers before,” Rychcik said, “but we didn’t have our game all the way around today.”
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