March 28, 2010
Box Score (Game 1) | Box Score (Game 2)
BOSTON - The Boston University softball team (14-10) swept Dartmouth (1-15) on Sunday afternoon, highlighted by a walk-off home run off the bat of senior Rachel Hebert in the Terriers' 4-3 victory in the second game. In game one, BU shut out the Big Green, 4-0. Junior April Setterlund capped off an impressive weekend with a 5-for-5 performance in the batter's box.
Setterlund, who has hit in 10 straight games and in 12 consecutive at-bats, improved her season batting average from .525 to .597 with an 11-for-11 showing in four games over two days. During that stretch, she drove in 15 runs, on five singles, one double, one triple and four home runs.
Hebert was 3-for-7 in two games with one RBI, while junior Caitlin Rentler went 3-for-6 with three RBIs and one double. Sophomore Erica Casacci also had a productive afternoon with two hits in six attempts.
Following the 4-0 shutout in the first game, the Big Green came back in game two to tie the contest at three in the seventh inning, however, senior Cassidi Hardy shut down the Dartmouth offense and Hebert provided the heroics with the walk-off home run - her sixth homer of the season.
Hardy also picked up the victory in the first game, as she surrendered just three hits and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning, finishing with her first shutout of the season. Hardy struck out seven of the 28 batters she faced, and issued just two walks.
In the second game, head coach Shawn Rychcik used his entire arsenal of pitchers and in the seventh inning, Hardy, who improves to 9-3 on the season, came into the game with the score tied at three, forcing two pop outs and recording a strikeout to end the inning with runner left on.
GAME 1
It was a pitcher's duel through the first three and a half innings as neither team was able to get any runner home, however, the Terriers held the advantage in hits, 3-0, until Rentler doubled to right center, plating Setterlund, who had reached on an infield single, to give BU the go-ahead run and jumpstart the Terriers' offense. Freshman Taylor Cowan followed up with another double, this time to left center, to bring Rentler around the bases, and she then scored on classmate Whitney Tuthill's RBI single to centerfield.
In the fifth, Rentler drove in her second run of the game as she singled down the right line to bring Casacci around the bases. To close out the game in the seventh, the Terriers retired three of the four batters they faced to complete the victory.
GAME 2
Setterlund continued her tear in the first inning, hitting for the weekend cycle, with a triple to center field, plating home Hebert and Casacci. On the next at-bat, Rentler hit to third base, bringing Setterlund home.
In the second inning, the Terriers threatened as Hebert and Setterlund recorded back-to-back singles, however, a fly out to right field ended the frame, stranding the duo on second and third, respectively.
In the top of the third, Dartmouth put one on the scoreboard for the first time on the afternoon as Nikki Yee scored on a single through the left side off the bat of Leigha Clarkson.
In the fifth inning, the Big Green drew to within one on an RBI double to center field to make it a one-run deficit and in the next frame made it a 3-3 game on a home run to right center. In the seventh, Hardy came into the game and shutdown the Big Green's offense, forcing two infield pop-ups and striking out another, before Hebert stepped to the plate in the bottom half of the inning and unleashed her sixth home run of the season.
The Terriers will make the short trek down Commonwealth Ave. and face crosstown rival Boston College on Wednesday (March 31) before opening their America East slate next weekend with a three-game series with Stony Brook on April 3 and April 4.
