Despite being out-hit, the Boston University softball team had strong opportunities to defeat Harvard University during its home opener. However, missed chances with runners in scoring positions led to a close 2-1 loss for the Terriers.
“I was disappointed we didn’t swing the bat a little bit better,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik. “Our pitching, I thought, was pretty good and our defense was sharp. [I’d] just like to see us come out and get a couple hits… put a little more pressure, and [Harvard managed] to do it regardless of the weather. I just think it would have been nice to see us give a little bit more.”
The Terriers (12-8) only had two hits on the day, both of which were doubles that came off the bat of freshman catcher Amy Ekart. As a result, Ekart was at the heart of most of the plays that could have resulted in runs for BU.
In her first at-bat of the game, Ekart hit a double to right center field to lead off the second inning. She moved over to third on a ground out by freshman third baseman Megan Volpano.
Sophomore pitcher Whitney Tuthill then hit a ground ball to third base. Ekart, who was running on contact with one out, was tagged out at the plate on a throw from Harvard’s third baseman.
“We were running on contact, we were running on ground balls,” Rychcik said of the play. “The first [opportunity] was a foot, a little farther from third base and we score on that play.”
In the fourth inning, with pinch runner Kayla Kruper on first, Ekart came up to bat and ripped her second double, this time down the left-field line. Kruper advanced to third on the play.
Volpano grounded out to second base allowing Kruper to score to account for the Terriers’ only run of the game and moving Ekart over to third base again.
This time, Tuthill’s ground ball went to second and it looked like it might score Ekart, who came charging toward home plate. Ekart proceeded to get caught in a run-down that ended with her throwing herself onto the plate in an attempt to get past a Harvard player who appeared to be blocking home. After Ekart was called out, there were a few minutes of discussion between Rychcik and the umpire over the call.
Tuthill was able to advance to second while the run-down was occurring. However, junior second baseman Melanie Delgado grounded out to the first baseman to end the scoring chance.
Rychcik said he felt that it wasn’t baserunning that was a problem during the game, but rather, offensive production.
“We just had bad luck,” Rychcik said, “we got [hits] to the corners. We need to find a way to get some help, find a way to get those balls up the middle… On the second [opportunity] we ended up getting second base back out of it.”
Aggressive play, especially on the bases, is something that Rychcik wants to see out of his team.
“That’s how we’re going to play,” Rychcik said. “We’re going to play aggressive, make them come up and make throws…I had no problem there with any of the base running. We needed to maybe do a better job getting a fly ball in those situations and get away from a groundball. That’s what I’d have rather seen.”
Over spring break, the team had solid offensive outings, scoring up to 10 runs in a game, and on the season, BU has outscored its opponents 89-61.
“We’ve been swinging good the last five, six games,” Rychcik said. “It’d be nice to see it carry over to today but it didn’t.”
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