Box Scores: Game One (L, 4-0) | Game Two (L, 13-10)

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NORTON, Mass. - Despite holding Army to six hits in the first game and sophomore Gabi Martinez recording a school-record-tying seven RBIs in game two, the Boston University softball team dropped a pair of contests to the Black Knights on Saturday afternoon at Wheaton College's Clark Field.

Army (17-19, 7-4 PL) used a two-out, second-inning grand slam to win the first game, 4-0, and tallied 20 hits to hold off the Terriers (8-22, 1-6 PL) in the second contest, 13-10.

Highlighted by two bases-clearing doubles, Martinez joined fellow sophomore Moriah Connolly in collecting four hits apiece to lead the Terriers against Caroline Smith (10-10), who pitched a combined 11.1 innings to lead Army to both victories. BU finished the day batting an impressive .339 but was unable to get the timely hit and keep pace with the Black Knights' .394 average.

The Terriers had multiple opportunities to score in the first game against Smith, starting in the bottom of the first. Freshman Emma Wong earned a one-out walk and stole second before advancing to third on a throwing error. BU would not be able to take advantage of the miscue, stranding her in scoring position.

Army began the second with a single and walk but followed up with a pair of pop ups to put junior Melanie Russell (2-5) in position to get out of the jam. However, Hailey Meggee followed with a two-out single to load the bases and Kasey McCravey hit her team-leading sixth homer, a grand slam, to give the Black Knights the lead for good. Russell would hold them to two hits the rest of the game but the damage was done.

BU also loaded the bases in the sixth following two-out singles by sophomore Brittany Younan and Martinez along with a walk by junior Lauren Hynes. On the next at-bat, Smith induced a flyout to keep the Terriers off the scoreboard. They again had a chance to mount a rally in the seventh with two base runners but ultimately fell in a shutout loss, finishing the contest with six hits.

In the second game, Army jumped out with back-to-back two-out hits to grab a 2-0 lead against sophomore Makinna Akers (3-6). Martinez responded with a single to left field to plate Connolly and cut the deficit in half in the bottom  of the first. She later found the left-center gap for a bases-clearing double in the third to put BU ahead, 4-2.

The lead did not last long though, as the Black Knights took advantage of a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt with five hits to grab a 7-4 advantage in the fourth. They added three more runs in the fifth off five hits against Russell to extend the lead to 10-4.

BU did not give in and mounted a comeback, scoring five runs in the bottom half of the fifth off five hits. With the bases loaded, Martinez came through again with another double to cut the deficit in half and tie April Setterlund ('10) for the school record for RBIs in a game.

Following senior Emily Felbaum's RBI double, Army pulled Smith in favor of Kristen Smith. She allowed a RBI single to senior Kendra Meadows but ended the inning with a groundout to keep a 10-9 lead. The Black Knights responded with a two-run homer in the sixth and RBI single in the seventh to push the lead to 13-9.

BU mounted one last charge with two outs. Freshman Jilee Schanda started with a double and later scored after back-to-back singles by Connolly and Wong. West earned the save when center fielder Tyler McKinney made a stellar diving catch to her right in left-center off a hard-hit liner by Younan.

The teams will square off in the rubber game on Sunday at Boston College with the first pitch set for 3:30 p.m.