Softball to Visit Holy Cross for PL Weekend Series
April 29, 2016 | Softball
| Softball (20-21, 6-5 PL) at Holy Cross (7-30, 3-9 PL) |
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| Date | Saturday, April 30 (DH) - Sunday, May 1 |
| Venue | Freshman Field - Worcester, Mass. |
| Live Stats | GoHolyCross.com |
| Audio | TSRN |
| Social Media |
@BUGameDay | @BostonUSoftball | Instagram |
BOSTON - Looking to solidify its spot in the upcoming four-team Patriot League tournament, the Boston University softball team will continue conference action at Holy Cross with a three-game weekend series. Saturday's doubleheader and Sunday's rubber game will both start at 12 p.m.
The Terriers (20-21, 6-5 PL) are currently in fourth place with a 3 1/2 game lead over both the Crusaders (7-30, 3-9 PL) and Colgate (8-27, 3-9 PL). The Raiders are at Lafayette (12-27, 2-10 PL) this weekend and will host BU the following weekend with HC ending its regular season at Lehigh (31-12, 9-2 PL) on May 7-8.
Besides battling for position in the conference standings, BU and HC will also be competing for a point in the inaugural all-sports Turnpike Trophy competition featuring the two schools. The weekend series winner will receive the point.
TERRIER TIDBITS
• BU is 9-5 in the month of April with a 6-2 Patriot League mark ... The Terriers last went 4-1 during five-game homestand that featured three wins over Lafayette and split with Lehigh.
• The Terriers hit the road for first time since posting wins at Bryant (9-1) and UMass Lowell (5-1) on April 20-21 ... They are 4-11 overall in true road contests.
• Offensively, the Terriers are batting .311 in April ... Freshman Alexa Ponce is 11-of-17 (.647) with five RBIs and a team-high three doubles ... Sophomore Emma Wong is hitting .432 with two triples, and junior Moriah Connolly leads the Terriers with 12 runs scored in the 14 games while hitting .347.
• In the circle, seniors Melanie Russell and Lauren Hynes have combined for the 14 starts with four of them ending in shutout fashion ... Russell is 7-3 with a 1.48 ERA and has struck out 71 batters in 61.2 innings ... Hynes is 2-2 with 2.74 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 23.0 innings.
SCOUTING HOLY CROSS
• The Crusaders are 1-7 at home after being swept last weekend by Army (7-1, 4-0, 10-2) ... They went 1-2 against Colgate with a 7-4 win followed by 2-1 (8) and 2-0 losses ... CCSU won the other two games, 1-0 (10) and 10-0 (5).
• Holy Cross is 3-9 in PL games ... The Crusaders came up just short of winning series at Bucknell ... Fell 5-3 and 5-1 before avoiding sweep, 5-4.
• HC is batting .235 while holding opponents to .325 ... Taylor Moss (.362) owns a team-high 24 RBIs with two homers ... Taylor Wahler (.328) and Jaclyn (.313) are the other two Crusaders above .300 ... Mandy McCarthy (.287) owns a team-igh three homers with 17 RBIs.
• Gennifer Durham (6-13, 3.36 ERA) owns 14 of HC's 17 complete-game performances ... She has 70 strikeouts in 127.0 innings with opponents batting .274 ... Katy Watson (0-11, 6.77 ERA) is second in strikeouts with 53 total in 61 innings but opponents are batting .364.
SERIES HISTORY
• BU leads the all-time series, 28-8, but Holy Cross is 5-2 in the last seven meetings.
• All six PL games have taken place at Holy Cross after last year's series was moved there due to the BU Softball Field still recovering from the record snow fall.
• In 2014, HC won the first two contests, 4-2 and 6-5 ... The Terriers responded with an 11-1 run-rule victory to help ignite a 13-game win streak.
• In 2015, the teams split the opening doubleheader with HC winning game one, 6-3 ... Terriers rebounded, 9-1, in six innings but lost the series after the Crusaders scored three in the first and seventh innings for a 8-4 game-three victory.
UP NEXT
• The Terriers will conclude the regular season at Colgate on May 7-8 ... Two years ago, they claimed a sweep in Hamilton, N.Y., by a combined score of 20-5 against the Raiders.
• BU and Lehigh do officially have one game left in their series, but it will only be made up if necessary before the conference tournament takes place May 12-14.
