May 4, 2014

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2014 Patriot League Tournament Central

BOSTON - After recognizing seniors Brittany Clendenny, Amy Ekart, Chelsea Kehr and Jayme Mask in the regular season finale, the Boston University softball team dropped a 9-1 decision to Bucknell on Sunday afternoon. With their 13-game win streak snapped, the Terriers fall to 32-19 and 13-5 in the Patriot League, while the Bison improve to 21-24 and 10-8 in conference action.

During the middle of the game, Lehigh (15-3 PL) claimed the regular season title at West Point and the right to host the upcoming double-elimination conference tournament with a 9-1 victory over Army (9-9 PL). The top-seeded Mountain Hawks will face the No. 4 Black Knights on Thursday (May 8) at 12 p.m. in the opening round, and the No. 2 Terriers will follow up at 2:30 p.m. against No. 3 Bucknell.

Freshman Makinna Akers (9-3) earned a complete-game 6-0 shutout victory on Saturday against the Bison and made her second appearance of the weekend on Sunday. Throwing a season-high 121 pitches, she went six solid innings, allowing just two runs off five hits, before the Bison keyed in with seven more runs off eight hits during the seventh.

Clendenny and junior Mandy Fernandez each had a single to lead the Terriers, while freshman Brittany Younan scored the team's lone run in the sixth to pull BU within one.

Bucknell opened with two runs on a two-out, two-RBI single through the left side to grab a 2-0 lead. Lara Bean (8-5) then went 5.1 scoreless innings, limiting the Terriers to just one hit.

However, after inducing a pop up to open the sixth, Bean got into trouble. She walked Younan and then allowed a hard-hit single to Clendenny. Bucknell's outfield misplayed the ball, allowing it to reach the fence and for Younan to score from first. Clendenny tried to reach third but was unable to beat the tag.

Amanda Fazio then came out of the pen and went 1.1 innings with three strikeouts to collect the save for the Bison.

The Terriers will next face Bucknell in the fourth straight meeting between the two programs on Thursday (May 8) at 2:30 p.m. BU enters the Patriot League tournament seeking the program's seventh NCAA appearance and 10th conference title.