WEST POINT, N.Y. – Combining for 15 strikeouts, junior pitchers
Lizzy Avery and
Allison Boaz prevailed in a pair of extra-inning pitchers' duels to lead the Boston University softball team to a doubleheader sweep at Army West Point on Saturday afternoon.
With the two victories, the Terriers (36-13, 14-0 PL) extend their NCAA leading active win streak to 25 games and the nation's best active road win streak to 16 contests. Boaz (19-4) first tallied six strikeouts in a 2-0 eight-inning shutout against the Black Knights (18-30, 8-6 PL) before Avery (17-8) went the distance in the 2-1 nine-inning marathon game-two victory with nine strikeouts. Overall, the pitching duo held Army to just six hits, three walks and one unearned run.
Army's Jolie Duong (9-11) and Emily Iannotti (7-5) were on the other side of the duels, as they limited BU to a combined nine hits. Senior
Emily Gant and graduate student
Jen Horita delivered back-to-back two-out, RBI hits in the top of the eighth of the first game, and senior
Aliyah Huerta-Leipner earned a two-out, bases loaded walk to break a 1-1 stalemate in the top of the ninth of the second contest.
GAME 1: BU - 2, Army West Point - 0 (8 inn.)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Kayla Edwards hit a one-out double in the bottom of the first before Boaz ended the threat with a pair of ground outs.
- Horita singled up the middle and stole second before being stranded at third in the top of the second.
- Junior Caitlin Coker doubled to left center in the third before BU flew out twice.
- Senior Nicole Amodio led off the fifth with a double, but Duong kept the game scoreless by earning three fly outs.
- Trying to walk off with a win, Army threatened in the seventh with two on base via single and fielder's choice, but junior Audrey Sellers threw a runner out trying to steal third and Boaz earned a ground out.
- Keleher started the eighth with a one-out single and eventually scored on Gant's two-out RBI double, which was followed by Horita's RBI single up the middle.
- Boaz finished the game with back-to-back strikeouts for the shutout victory.
GAME 2: BU - 2, Army West Point - 1 (9 inn.)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Coker was hit by a pitch to start the game but ended up stranded at third, as Iannotti earned nine straight outs.
- The Black Knights scored the game's first run by taking advantage of two defensive miscues with a single and bases-loaded walk before Avery prevented further damage with a strikeout in the second.
- Army managed just one more hit in the third on a single.
- Keleher tied the game in the fourth by earning a lead-off walk, taking second on an error and then participating in a successful double-steal attempt with sophomore Kayla Roncin that prompted an errant throw.
- Huerta-Leipner broke up Iannotti's no-hit bid with a one-out single in the fifth.
- For the second consecutive contest, Army had a chance to walk off with a win in the seventh, but Avery stood tall with three strikeouts.
- BU loaded the bases in the ninth on Roncin's walk, a misplayed sac bunt by Gant and Amodio's hit-by-pitch before Huerta-Leipner earned a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch.
GAME NOTES
- BU improved to 3-2 in extra-inning games and 3-3 in one-run decisions this season.
- Roncin's 70 hits are tied for the sixth most in a season at BU and are just two behind tying for third.
- Coker's 15 doubles are tied for the third most in a season at BU and are four away from tying the school record.
- Keleher's 28 walks are tied for the fifth most in a season at BU and are the most by a Terrier since 2014.
- Boaz earned BU's 13th shutout of the season.
UP NEXT
- BU will wrap the six-game road trip at Army with a 12 p.m. start.
- The Terriers are seeking their sixth straight win against the Black Knights.
