BOSTON – After extending its Patriot League record-breaking win streak to 17 games with a 1-0 victory, the Boston University softball team was undone by five errors in a 7-4 loss to visiting Army West Point on Friday afternoon.
With the doubleheader split, the Terriers move to 18-2 and 7-1 in conference play, as their NCAA-leading and program-best 28-game home win streak that dated back to 2018 came to an end. Senior and reigning PL Pitcher of the Week
Ali DuBois remained perfect on the year at 13-0 by limiting the Black Knights (5-6, 3-3 PL) to just three hits in the first contest.
Freshman
Kayla Roncin delivered the decisive blow in the first game with a homer, and sophomore
Caitlin Coker recorded one of her own in the second, as the Terriers tried to overcome a seven-run deficit. Senior
Jen Horita led the offense with four combined hits.
GAME 1: BU 1, Army 0
HOW IT HAPPENED
- DuBois bent in the first two innings with four walks allowed but did not break.
- Army stranded two following a strikeout looking in the first inning and left the bases loaded in the second on an infield pop up.
- Horita doubled in the second and took third on a sac bunt but was stranded herself at third, as Army's Alicyn Grete (2-3) earned a strikeout and pop up.
- Roncin blasted a 1-0 to lead off the third for what proved to be the game's lone run.
- DuBois ended retired the final 14 batters, including the last two via strikeout, to seal her fifth shutout of the season.
GAME 2: Army 7, BU 4
HOW IT HAPPENED
- BU got into trouble in the first inning, as junior Emily Gant (1-2) hit two batters and a defensive error allowed a run to score.
- After the Terriers stranded two on base in the first, they came unglued in the third with three errors, as Army pushed its lead to 3-0 against sophomore Allison Boaz on a pair of RBI singles.
- BU had back-to-back one-out singles in the third, but Jolie Duong (3-0) ended the threat with a pair of groundouts.
- The Black Knights followed in the fourth with four runs off four hits, including a two-run homer by Megan Muffett.
- Trying to mount a comeback, BU loaded the bases in the bottom half with one out but only managed two runs on a hit-by-pitch and groundout.
- Sophomore Lizzy Avery prevented Army from adding more runs with the help of five strikeouts in the final 3.2 innings.
- After freshman Lauren Nett singled to right in the sixth, Coker homered to right to put the deficit at 7-4.
- Horita doubled to left center in the seventh to help put the game-tying run on deck, but Duong earned a pair of flyouts to snap the Terriers' 17-game win streak.
DOUBLEHEADER NOTES
- BU's 17-game win streak was two games better than the previous PL record held by the 2015 Lehigh and 2018 BU squads but was one game shy of tying the 2001 BU squad for the program record.
- Already No. 2 all-time in the PL at 73 wins, DuBois moved within three shutouts of the all-time record of 31.
- DuBois also owns 53 complete game performances, one shy of No. 5 Robyn King in the BU record book, after becoming the first pitcher this season to blank Army in 11 games.
- Roncin became the fifth Terrier to hit multiple homers this season, while Coker became the eighth to go yard.
- With Roncin's performance in the first game and Nett's in the second, BU now has 11 players with at least one multi-hit game this season.
- Coker's streak of successfully reaching base came to an end at 17 games in the first contest of the day.
- The Terriers are 5-0 this season in one-run matchups.
- BU moved to 16-11 all-time against Army after its six-game win streak in the series was snapped.
- The seven allowed runs were the most scored by the Black Knights since BU dropped an 8-7 decision in 2016 at West Point.
NEXT UP: Army
- The two teams will square off again Saturday (April 10) with a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m. on ESPN+.
