Softball, Sports

BU continues homestand against rival UMass

If the weather holds out, the Boston University softball team will look to salvage its longest home stretch of the season with an afternoon game against University of Massachusetts at the BU Softball Field on Wednesday.

Junior infielder Melanie Delgado will face one of the nation’s top pitchers in UMass ace Sara Plourde at home on Wednesday. MICHAEL CUMMO/ Daily Free Press Staff

While it looks as though the weather should be fine, the rain so far this week has already caused issues for both of the teams.

“That’s the way it is everywhere,” said BU coach Shawn Rychcik. “It’s just sometimes frustrating for a coach because you want to do this today and tomorrow and you’re limited because it’s raining, so from that standpoint, it just is frustrating.”

The Terriers (18-10, 4-2 America East) would benefit from having some more time on the field as defense has been their biggest problem so far this season. Their fielding woes came to a head this past weekend when the team faced off against University of Maine in a three-game series. BU won the first game, but lost the next two in what Rychcik said was just an overall poor performance.

“I don’t think we had our best games this weekend,” Rychcik said after Sunday’s games. “We were sloppy in all parts of the game. We didn’t hit real well, pitching was average and we didn’t play defense again. Just real disappointed in our performances and as a whole for three games. I look at [Saturday] and I don’t know if we were just off or what, but we just didn’t play the whole weekend, really.”

The Minutewomen (13-14, 5-3 Atlantic 10) were originally supposed to play University of Connecticut Tuesday afternoon. However, the game was canceled because of rain. UMass last played on Sunday when they swept St. Louis University in two games at home.

Leading UMass in the first game, and for most of the season, was junior pitcher Sara Plourde. Plourde threw her second straight no-hitter in the matchup against St. Louis and then came in for two innings of relief in the second game. She comes into Wednesday’s game carrying a streak of 17 2/3 innings without allowing a hit, a school record.

Plourde, who is 11-10 with a 1.51 ERA in 23 appearances, has struck out 244 batters so far this year, good for sixth in the country. Last season, Plourde was named to the All-American third team and led the country with 556 Ks.

“Everything will start on the mound for [UMass],” Rychcik said. “They’ve got an All-American on the mound and she’s one of the top strikeout girls in the country…We’re going to strike out a bit on Wednesday. It’s just weathering the storm. They’re going to hit a little bit…They did graduate a couple of hitters so they’re going to lose a little bit in the offensive side of things.

“They’ve got the young kids probably playing just as we do but they’re whole team will be generated around how good their pitcher is. It’s where their success comes and if she’s on it’s going to be a tough day for us. We’re going to have to battle and hopefully our pitching can kind of neutralize that.”

The last time the two teams met up was in the NCAA regional game in May of last year. The Terriers defeated UMass 10-4 on the backs of then-junior April Setterlund and then-senior pitcher-turned-coach, Cassidi Hardy.

“We beat them last year in regionals and I’m sure they still have a chip on their shoulders,” Rychcik said. “Their record isn’t outstanding and they struggled early… but they’ll be ready to play, there’s no doubt about it. We’ll have to have our best game or be in trouble.”

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