NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Claiming its fourth-straight doubleheader sweep, the Boston University softball team followed up on a thrilling 4-2 nine-inning win over Iona with a 6-2 victory against Central Connecticut State on Sunday afternoon at the CCSU Softball Field.
Junior catcher
Alex Heinen applied a game-saving tag at home on senior right fielder
Emma Wong's throw to send the Iona (8-11) game to the ninth and then followed up with a two-run homer to help the Terriers (16-14) keep the win streak alive. In the second contest, senior
Jilee Schanda went 3-of-3 with three RBIs and a run scored against the Blue Devils (9-14). Freshman
Ali Dubois (10-4) collected both wins by striking out 12 hitters in a combined 10.2 innings of work while allowing just two runs.
GAME 1: BU 4, Iona 2 (9 inn.)
EXTRA INNINGS
- Using international tiebreaker rules, junior Emily Morrow started at second in the top of the eighth and advanced to third on senior Kaitlin Sahlinger's sacrifice bunt before being thrown out at home on an infield grounder.
- In the bottom of the eighth, the Gaels tried to score from third on a fly ball to right, but Wong threw a strike to Heinen at home to apply the tag and end the inning.
- With one out in the top of the ninth, Heinen went deep to left field to plate freshman Jen Horita for a 4-2 advantage.
- Iona was unable to mount a rally against Dubois with a fly out, strikeout and ground out.
THE SETUP
- Senior Brittany Younan and Heinen started the contest with back-to-back singles before scoring on a pair of errors by Iona for an early 2-0 lead.
- The Gaels tied the game in the bottom of the second with a two-run blast against sophomore Lizzie Annerino, who held Iona to four hits in 5.1 innings of work.
- Looking to avenge Saturday's 8-0 loss to the Terriers, Iona had a one-out single and walk in the sixth to prompt a pitching change.
- Dubois then loaded the bases on a walk but bounced back by earning back-to-back swinging strikeouts to help send the game to extra innings.
GAME 2: BU 6, CCSU 2
HOW IT HAPPENED
- BU again jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Wong's RBI single and Schanda's sacrifice fly to left.
- After scoring the first run, Younan added an RBI triple in the second to plate Sahlinger from first.
- Schanda and junior Alexa Ponce hit back-to-back RBI doubles to extend the lead to 5-0 in the third.
- Schanda added one more RBI double in the fifth.
- CCSU avoided the shutout in the sixth by taking advantage of an error with a two-out, bases-loaded single up the middle to pull within four.
- The Blue Devils only drew a walk in the final two innings, as Dubois finished with eight strikeouts for her second win of the day.
DOUBLEHEADER NOTES
- BU extended its win streak to eight games, the longest non-conference win streak since the Terriers won eight straight in 2006.
- Younan recorded two triples on the day and now owns eight for the season, second most in BU history behind BU Hall of Famer Beth Iwamoto's 13 triples set in 1994 ... Younan's 16 career triples rank fourth with BU Hall of Famer Michelle White ('95) in third at 18.
- With the ninth-inning homer, Heinen now owns two on the season and 12 for her career, just three shy of cracking the top 10 in the BU record book.
- Both Wong and junior Madi Killebrew are on seven-game hit streaks with Wong successfully reaching base in 16 straight contests.
- The Terriers are now 2-2 in extra-inning contests this season.
NEXT UP: BOSTON COLLEGE
- BU will remain on the road and visit the crosstown rival Eagles on Wednesday (March 28) with first pitch set for 4 p.m.
- The Terriers lost, 3-1, last season in Chestnut Hill.
