PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Led by two strong pitching performances from senior
Ali DuBois and an opportunistic offense, the Boston University softball team wrapped up the four-game series at Providence with a doubleheader sweep on Monday afternoon.
After reaching the 500-strikeout milestone in the second inning of the first contest, DuBois (3-0) held the Friars (1-3) to just two hits in a 10-0 shutout win and then pitched the final 4.2 innings in the game two 8-3 win to move to No. 6 all-time in the Patriot League record book at 63 victories. Junior
Nicole Amodio led BU with a combined three hits in the DH, while junior
Emily Gant, freshman
Lauren Keleher and junior
Aliyah Huerta-Leipner tallied three runs apiece to help the Terriers move to 3-1.
GAME 1: BU 10, Providence 0
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After two quick scoreless innings, BU grabbed the lead for good in the top of the third with Amodio starting things off on a hit-by-pitch.
- Senior Patricia Dun laid a bunt single and moved into scoring position alongside the pinch runner Gant.
- Keleher followed sophomore Caitlin Coker's RBI grounder with an RBI single to right for the 2-0 advantage.
- The Friars had a one-out double and two-out walk in the bottom half before lining out to Amodio at first.
- Amodio doubled down the left field line to start the fifth, took third on freshman Alex-Rose Molinar's sacrifice bunt and scored on Dun's RBI infield grounder.
- BU put the game away in the sixth with three runs off two hits and two errors, as Amodio followed Huerta-Leipner's RBI single to center with a two-RBI single of her own.
- The Terriers piled on further in the seventh with four more runs off five hits, including an RBI double by freshman Lauren Nett and RBI single from junior Bella Gargicevich-Almeida.
- DuBois finished with seven strikeouts for her second consecutive shutout performance.
GAME 2: BU 8, Providence 3
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Gant started the second with a single before stealing second, advancing to third on sophomore Audrey Sellers' sac bunt and scoring on a defensive error.
- After Keleher and Huerta-Leipner earned a walk, Gant hit a two-out bullet in the third at the center fielder, who misplayed the ball and allowed three runs to score.
- Making her first career start, Allison Boaz earned six quick outs but ran into trouble at the start of the third with a walk, wild pitch, RBI single and one-out double.
- DuBois returned to the circle in relief and picked up a second out on an infield grounder, but the Friars followed with back-to-back singles to cut BU's lead to 4-3.
- With two runners in scoring position, DuBois prevented further damage by getting an infield grounder to Dun at short.
- The Friars remained on the attack in the bottom of the fourth with two singles, but Amodio turned a double play by catching.a hard liner at first and quickly touching the bag before the runner returned.
- The Terriers put the game away in the top of the fifth with four runs off three hits and an error, highlighted by Sellers' two-run blast to left.
DOUBLEHEADER NOTES
- DuBois is now just six shutouts away from tying the PL record at 31.
- Freshman Kayla Roncin joined classmates Nett and Kelleher in collecting at least one RBI and one run scored.
- Boaz, Roncin and Gant each had a stolen base.
- BU is 18-3-1 over the last 22 games against the Friars and now leads the all-time series, 23-16-1.
NEXT UP: Merrimack
- Due to expected poor weather conditions this weekend, the Terriers and Warriors moved up their four-game series to March 10-11 with all four games taking place at Merrimack.
- First pitch is set for 1 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.
- The Terriers will be visiting North Andover for the first time since 1990 and will be meeting Merrimack for the first time since winning a doubleheader at home in 1991.