NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Boosted by a pair of game-changing home runs and strong pitching, the Boston University softball team earned a doubleheader sweep at Merrimack on Wednesday afternoon.
The Terriers (22-7) first used junior
Kayla Roncin's grand slam to run-rule the Warriors (4-10) in game one, 9-0, and then rode freshman
Brooke Deppiesse's sixth-inning go-ahead solo blast to a 2-1 victory. Roncin ended the day with a team-high four hits alongside graduate student
Emily Gant and sophomore
Tyesha Williams.
In the circle, senior
Allison Boaz pitched a scoreless fifth inning to combine with classmate
Lizzy Avery (4-1) for the shutout in the first contest and then had assistance from freshman
Kasey Ricard (8-2) during the final 2 2/3 innings of the second game. Boaz finished with half of the trio's 18 strikeouts.
GAME 1: BU - 9, Merrimack - 0 (5 inn.)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- BU quickly scored the first run when senior Caitlin Coker reached second on an error and eventually scored on Gant's RBI single.
- Gant plated both Roncin (walk) and Coker (single) with a two-RBI double and scored on Deppiesse's RBI double for a 4-0 advantage in the third.
- The Terriers took advantage of another error in the fourth with senior Adurey Sellers scoring on Coker's RBI sac fly to left that was set up by junior Lauren Keleher's sac bunt and Roncin's single.
- In the fifth, graduate student Nicole Amodio (hit-by-pitch), Williams (walk) and junior Kate Pryor (single) loaded the bases with zero outs, and Roncin put the game in run-rule territory with BU's first grand slam of the season to center.
- Avery recorded three strikeouts against one single allowed in the fourth, and Boaz added two more in the fifth to seal the shutout.
GAME 2: BU - 2, Merrimack - 0
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Junior Lauren Nett scored BU's first run in the second after hitting a one-out single and reaching third thanks to back-to-back singles by Williams and Sellers.
- Keleher drove the ball into the field toward second to help Nett reach home for the 1-0 lead.
- The Warriors though struck back in the third with a pair of one-out singles and then a two-out RBI single against Boaz to tie the game, 1-1.
- BU stranded a runner in both the fourth and fifth before Deppiesse opened the sixth with her second homer of the season.
- Trying to add insurance runs, Amodio earned a walk and Williams added a single, but Merrimack earned back-to-back ground outs to keep the score at 2-1.
- Ricard entered the game in relief in the fifth to record the final two outs and struck out three Warriors in the sixth against one single.
- After BU stranded Roncin at second in the top of the seventh, Merrimack earned a one-out walk and single to put the game-winning run at first.
- Ricard seald the victory with her sixth strikeout of the game and a line out to Deppiesse at second.
DOUBLEHEADER NOTES
- Keleher moved up to a tie-for-ninth all-time at BU with 72 walks.
- Gant tied a personal best with four hits, last accomplishing the feat against Lafayette back in 2021.
- Williams' three hits in the second game were a personal best. She became the seventh Terrier this season to have at least three hits in a game.
- Roncin tied a personal best with four RBIs just a day after first accomplishing the feat against Yale.
- BU improved to 11-3 all-time against Merrimack with its 10th straight win in the series
UP NEXT
- The Terriers are next scheduled to visit Delaware this weekend for a game against Villanova on Saturday (March 25) and two contests on Sunday (March 26) against the Blue Hens.
- First pitch is set for 11 a.m. both days.
