Softball Set for Patriot League Tournament
May 7, 2014 | Softball
May 7, 2014
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PL Tournament Notes | PL Tournament Central
Six Terriers Earn Patriot League Postseason Honors
BOSTON - Seeking its second NCAA appearance in three years, the No. 2 seed Boston University softball team will open the Patriot League tournament with No. 3 Bucknell on Thursday (May 8) at Lehigh. First pitch is slated for 2:30 p.m. after the top-seeded Mountain Hawks face defending champion Army at 12 p.m.
The Terriers (32-19) finished their inaugural season in the Patriot League with a 13-5 record and went 2-1 against each of the other three tournament participants. However, two of those squads played BU on the road.
BU will meet the Bison (21-24, 10-8 PL) for the fourth straight time after hosting Bucknell last weekend. All-Conference First Team honoree Melanie Russell pitched a perfect game in a 1-0 victory. PL Rookie of the Year Brittany Younan contributed three RBIs in the 6-0 win, while classmate Makinna Akers allowed just three hits. During the third match-up, Bucknell scored entered the seventh and final inning with a 2-1 lead before adding seven more runs to avoid the sweep.
The Terriers enter the tournament with the top offense, averaging a league-high .309 with 260 runs scored. All-PL First Team member Jayme Mask leads BU at .399 while also owning a conference-high 33 stolen bases. Younan is close behind at .389 with 34 RBIs, and Second Team honoree Moriah Connolly is batting .333 with five triples.
In the middle of the line-up, senior Brittany Clendenny (.303 avg) currently ranks third all-time in the PL with 48 RBIs in a season and is tied for first on the team in home runs (4) with classmate Amy Ekart. All-PL Second Team member Chelsea Kehr (.282 avg) owns 16 doubles, second most in BU history. During the recent 13-game win streak, junior Emily Felbaum (.273 avg) proved to be a key contributor, batting .351 with seven RBIs and eight runs scored.
The streak also showed plenty of stellar defensive and pitching performances, including a catch by junior Mandy Fernandez (.258 avg) over the left field fence that helped the Terriers win in extra innings against Lafayette. BU only committed five errors with opponents committing 29.
Russell (9-3, 2.02 ERA) limited opponents to a .121 batting average in 42 innings of work behind 45 strikeouts, while Akers (9-3, 2.52 ERA) collected five victories with 20 strikeouts in 34 innings. All-PL First Team honoree Lauren Hynes (14-13, 3.54) held Harvard to just one hit to snap the Crimson's 18 game win streak and owns a team-high on-base percentage of .496.
Bucknell features three pitchers with an ERA below 2.77. Last weekend, Amanda Fazio (4-5, 2.26) struck out eight Terriers in 6.2 innings, while Lara Bean (7-6, 2.76) held BU to a .194 batting average for a 1-1 record. Cydnee Sanders leads the PL in hitting at .464 and will look to get back on track after going just 2-of-10 in the three-game series. Kristen Zahn (.371 avg, 32 RBIs) had the most success with three hits and two runs scored.
Though Thursday's game is not a must-win due to the double-elimination format, history shows the winner is in a much better position to win the tournament. Lehigh was the last team back in 2005 to lose its first game and come back to win the next four for the NCAA bid.
Winner of nine conference titles, the Terriers are 14-6 all-time in the first game of a conference tournament. They have never won the championship after losing the first game.
The winner of Army/Lehigh and BU/Bucknell will face off on Friday (May 9) at 10:30 a.m. before the two losers meet up at 1 p.m.
