Aliyah Huerta-Leipner makes a leaping grab on a liner in the outfield
Doug Waters

Softball Travels West for Annual California Trip

March 7, 2019

Softball (8-5) at Louisville Slugger Invitational
Schedule Friday, March 8
vs. San Diego State @ LBSU, 12 p.m. ET
vs. BYU @ UCLA, 5 p.m. ET

Saturday, March 9
vs. Robert Morris @ UCLA, 1 p.m. ET
vs. Liberty @ UCLA, 3:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 10
vs. #2 UCLA @ LBSU, 2:30 p.m. ET
Location Long Beach and Los Angeles, Calif.
Live Stats Schedule
Twitter @BUGameDay | @TerrierSoftball

BOSTON – After having its seven-game win streak snapped by No. 14 Arkansas at the Wooo Pig Classic, the Boston University softball team will head west to California for 12 games, starting with five contests at the Louisville Slugger Invitational co-hosted by Long Beach State and No. 2 UCLA.

The Terriers (8-5) will first face San Diego State on Friday at 12 p.m. ET at LBSU before taking a short trek to UCLA's campus for a 5 p.m. ET first pitch against BYU. On Saturday, they will compete in back-to-back games at UCLA against Robert Morris (1 p.m. ET) and Liberty (3:30 p.m. ET). BU will return to LBSU's campus on Sunday to face off against the Bruins with a 2:30 p.m. ET start time.

TERRIER TIDBITS
  • Nine of the 17 Terriers on the squad hail from California with another a native of Arizona.
  • BU is batting .284 and holding opponents to .236 with a 7-4 advantage in homers ... Opponents hold a slight 12-10 advantage in doubles and neither side has allowed a triple after the Terriers led the nation last season in triples.
  • Senior Emily Morrow leads the Terriers at .400 with 11 RBIs and eight runs scored, while sophomore Marina Sylvestri is hitting .382.
  • Senior Alex Heinen (.250 avg) has provided the power so far with a .550 slugging percentage, four homers and 15 RBIs ... She is eight away from tying BU Hall of Famer April Setterlund's record of 140 career RBIs.
  • Freshman Aliyah Huerta-Leipner is batting .342 from the lead-off position with 10 RBIs and team-high 13 runs scored while classmate Nicole Amodio is hitting .286 with nine runs scored.
  • In the circle, sophomore Ali DuBois (5-1, 1.58 ERA) owns 53 strikeouts in 44.1 innings while holding opponents to .222 ... Freshmen Emily Gant (2-2, 2.69 ERA) and Julia Handfield (1-2, 2.76 ERA) have combined for the other seven starts so far.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

San Diego State @ LBSU, 10-9 (Friday, 12 p.m. ET)
  • The Aztecs will open the tourney on Thursday against Robert Morris having lost the last two games to Florida Gulf Coast (9-0) and Weber State (6-4) ... They own notable wins against BYU (2-1), Illinois-Chicago (13-8), Syracuse (9-8) and Nebraska (4-0).
  • After finishing 20-31 last season, SDSU is hitting .258 while holding opponents to .308 with opponents owning 14-3 advantage in homers and 25-21 lead i doubles. 
  • Kelsey Munoz is hitting a team-high .310 with two homers and 11 RBIs with Molly Sturdivant is close behind at .309 ... Kiera Wright (.302 avg.) owns a team-high 15 runs with the help of nine stolen bases.
  • Marissa Moreno (5-3, 3.65 ERA) owns 50 strikeouts in 55.2 innings ... Alicia Garcia (3-4, 5.06 ERA) and MJ James (2-2, 5.39 ERA) have combined for 11 of the other starts.
  • BU is 2-4 all-time against SDSU after winning both meetings last season, 1-0 and 5-2.
BYU @ UCLA, 7-9 (Friday, 5 p.m. ET)
  • The Cougars went 36-22 last season with a 1-2 record at the NCAA Regionals ... They eliminated Albany, 16-0(5), and lost a pair of games to Drake.
  • BYU has notable wins this season against then-No. 18 Baylor (4-3) and Missouri (7-3) ... The Cougars went 1-2 last weekend at the San Diego Classic with identical 2-1 losses to SDSU and San Jose State with a 2-0 win over FGCU.
  • BYU is hitting .232 while holding opponents to .252 while posting a 17-11 advantage in homers.
  • Rylee Jensen hits .364 with four homers, 12 RBIs and 11 runs scored, while both Emilee Erickson (.324) and Olivia Sanchez (.321) are hitting over .300 with a combined five homers.
  • Autumn Moffat (3-4, 2.25 ERA), Kerisa Viramontes (2-2, 3.99 ERA) and Arissa Paulson (2-3, 5.17 ERA) all have at least five starts and two complete-games apiece.
  • BU dropped the lone meeting, 9-0, at San Diego in 2017.
Robert Morris @ UCLA, 3-10 (Saturday, 1 p.m. ET)
  • The Colonials enter the tournament with wins over Norfolk State (11-8), Delaware State (7-1) and Cleveland State (6-4) ... They dropped three at USC Upstate by a combined score of 21-1.
  • RMU is batting .198 while holding teams to .307 with a 9-9 tie in homers ... Opponents own a 34-5 advantage in stolen bases.
  • Abriel McCartney hits a team-high .351 with six RBIs, while Natalie Higgins (.184) owns a team-high three homers and nine RBIs.
  • Dana Vatakis (2-2, 4.70 ERA) has collected two of the wins in four starts with Katie Gasvoda (0-2, 4.85 ERA) earning two saves ... Laura Coulter (0-5, 7.44 ERA) has made a team-high six starts.
  • BU owns a 5-2 record in the all-time series with the Colonials winning the first meeting in 1998 (2-0) and the last contest in 2013 (2-1) ... SIx of the meetings took place in Florida with the other in Philadelphia.
Liberty @ UCLA, 8-6 (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET)
  • The Flames went 49-14 last season with a 2-2 record at the NCAA Regionals ... Collected a win over Hofstra and then went 1-2 against South Carolina.
  • Liberty is on a 10-game win streak with key wins against Bucknell (1-0), Princeton (12-0) and Rutgers (5-3) ... The Flames went 1-1 at then-No. 19 Texas A&M with a 4-2 win and 1-0 loss.
  • Liberty is hitting .297 while holding teams to .166 with a 27-15 advantage in doubles and 8-1 lead in triples.
  • Amber Bishop (.419) owns a team-high five homers with five doubles and 16 runs scored, while Alexis Erich (.414) has a homer and nine RBIs ... Kara Canetto (.268) has a team-high 11 RBIs.
  • Julia DiMartino (7-3, 1.12 ERA) has gone the distance four times and also owns two saves while holding opponents to .117 ... Chase Cassady (3-1, 1.71 ERA) owns 42 strikeouts in 32.2 innings while holding teams to .214.
  • BU is 1-2 against the Flames with a 2-0 win in 2008 and losses to Liberty in 2000 and 2001.
#2 UCLA @ LBSU, 17-1 (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET)
  • The Bruins went 58-7 last season and won two games in the Women's College World Series before dropping two to Florida State.
  • UCLA's lone loss came against Michigan (3-1) back on March 1 ... The Bruins have notable wins against Florida, Oklahoma, Florida (2x) and Kentucky.
  • The Bruins are batting .347 with a 16-6 advantage in homers and 31-11 lead in doubles while holding teams to .141.
  • Briana Perez is hitting .460 with seven doubles, 14 RBIs and 24 runs scored, while Kelli Godin (.448) is hitting .448 with nine stolen bases ... Bubba Nickles (.379) and Aaliyah Jordan (.380) have combined for 38 RBIs and nine homers with Nickles tallying 22 RBIs.
  • Rachel Garcia (7-0, 0.58 ERA) owns 82 strikeouts in 48.2 innings ... Megan Faraimo (4-1, 1.29 ERA) and Holly Azevedo (6-0, 1.66 ERA).
  • BU is facing UCLA for the third straight year after dropping a 6-1 decision in 2017 and 10-2 result in 2018.
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