Softball Shuts Out Lehigh in DH, as Heinen Breaks Program Record

Saturday, April 6

Bethlehem, PA

12 PM

Boston University

19-15, 4-0

Lehigh

11-20, 3-4

Boston University

Lehigh

Photo by: Steve McLaughlin

Softball Shuts Out Lehigh in DH, as Heinen Breaks Program Record

April 6, 2019 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box (W, 2-0 / 8 inn.)Game 2 Box (W, 2-0)

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Led by strong pitching and clutch hitting, the Boston University softball team claimed a pair of 2-0 shutout victories at Lehigh on Saturday afternoon.

Keeping an opponent off the scoreboard in a doubleheader for the first time since 2017, the Terriers ( 20-15, 5-0 PL) extended their win streak to seven games, as the Mountain Hawks fall to 11-20 (3-5 PL). Sophomore Ali DuBois (14-6) held Lehigh to just three hits in an eight-inning complete-game gem and then earned her first-ever save with a pair of ground outs after freshman Emily Gant (5-7) posted eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work.

Senior Madi Killebrew led the BU offense with three combined hits, while senior Alex Heinen had two, including a go-ahead RBI triple in the second game that allowed her to set a new career program record for RBIs.

GAME 1: BU 2, Lehigh 0 (8 inn.)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Terriers had multiple chances to avoid their second extra-inning game in three contests, as they stranded 11 on base against 2018 All-PL honoree Parker Boyd (6-8).
After BU lined into a double play, sophomore Marina Sylvestri doubled to left but was left at second.
Senior Analisa Ruff led off the third with a single before senior Emily Morrow drew a one-out walk.
Boyd ended the threat with a strikeout and fly out.
Lehigh had a runner reach second in the fifth on a single and throwing error, but DuBois got an infield ground out to keep the game scoreless.
The Mountain Hawks led off the seventh with a single but were unable to advance the runner with a foul out and back-to-back ground outs.
BU finally broke through in the eighth with a little bit of help, as Lehigh was slow to pull the trigger on an infield grounder, allowing BU to put two on following freshman Aliyah Huerta-Leipner's single.
Killebrew loaded the bases with a single to right, and Boyd followed up by hitting both Sylvestri and freshman Nicole Amodio to allow two runs to score.
Lehigh was unable to get the ball out of the infield against DuBois in the bottom half for the shutout loss.

GAME 2: BU 2, Lehigh 0

HOW IT HAPPENED

Making her first appearance in a road Patriot League game, Gant allowed a lead-off single, but after Heinen threw out the runner trying to steal second, she settled down with a strike out and ground out.
Gant provided BU's first hit of the game with a two-out single in the second.
Gant did not have to wait long for run support, as Ruff drew a lead-off walk in the third and junior pinch-runner Kali Magane scored on Heinen's triple to right center.
Lehigh had a lead-off single in the bottom half, but the defense came up big with a force out on bunt attempt and then a 5-4-3 double play.
In the sixth, Killebrew and Sylvestri earned back-to-back one-out walks, and sophomore pinch-hitter Maya Kipfmiller provided a needed insurance run with a two-out single to left.
After striking out the side in the sixth, Gant allowed back-to-back one-out singles in the seventh to bring the game-winning run to the plate.
DuBois got a force out at third on the next at-bat before loading the bases with a 3-2 ball.
Ponce sealed the shutout victory by collecting a slow grounder at third and throwing a bullet to first.

GAME NOTES

Heinen moved into a tie-for-seventh in the Patriot League record book with her 141st-career RBI, which also broke a tie with BU Hall of Famer and former All-American April Setterlund ('11).
Besides earning her first-ever save, DuBois moved into a tie-for-seventh in career wins at BU with 42 alongside Robyn Horrick ('02).
BU shut out Lehigh twice in one day for the first time since eliminating the Mountain Hawks in the 1996 NCAA Play-In Round, 7-0 and 1-0, when the Terriers were in the America East (then known as the North Atlantic Conference).
The Terriers have now won a weekend series at Lehigh for the first tie after being swept in 2015 and 2017.

NEXT UP: LEHIGH

The Terriers now lead the all-time series, 13-11, and will try to claim their first-ever three-game sweep against the Mountain Hawks on Sunday at 12 p.m. on the Patriot League Network.