Friday night against North Carolina State, Boston College softball fell behind early, but used a seventh inning offensive outburst to rally and defeat the Wolfpack in dramatic fashion. Saturday, the Eagles dug themselves into another hole in the early innings, before once again attempting to conjure some late offensive magic. This time, however, it wasn’t enough.
Ellie Mataya’s single drove in a run in the seventh inning to kickstart a rally, and BC managed to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Jenna Ergle, but the redshirt freshman popped out to first base, and the Eagles lost to N.C. State, 6-3.
Camryn Dolby got the start for BC after 3 1/3 stellar innings of relief on Friday, but was immediately in trouble, walking Sam Russ on four pitches to begin the game. The left fielder promptly stole second base and moved to third on a throwing error from Gianna Boccagno, then scored on another error from the Eagles catcher to give the Wolfpack an unearned run and a 1-0 lead.
Dolby would recover to get the final two outs, then maneuvered her way out of a jam in the second inning after walking the bases full. She was pulled after walking two more batters and hitting a third to begin the third frame, though. Susannah Anderson entered in relief, but BC’s sloppy play continued. N.C. State second baseman Natalie Jones chopped a grounder to third base for what should have been an out, but Emme Martinez’s throw home flew wide of Boccagno, allowing all three Wolfpack base runners to score. Yet another error from Dolby allowed Jones to cross home plate, and when the inning had finally ended N.C. State had a comfortable 5-0 advantage.
Meanwhile, the Eagles’ bats were held down by Devin Wallace, who pitched into the seventh inning for the second consecutive game. Unlike Friday, however, Wallace finished off a complete game effort, pitching seven innings and allowing three runs on seven hits. Ergle—who finished the day 1-of-4—hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning, and scored on Maddison Hamilton’s grounder to shortstop to get BC on the board, but Gianna Randazza was thrown out stealing second base after being hit by a pitch to end the Eagles threat.
BC would further cut into the Wolfpack lead in the sixth. Boccagno was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Carlie Sanders was substituted as a pinch runner. She advanced to second base on a passed ball before Allyson Moore lined a double into center field to drive in a run. That was all the Eagles would get, though, as Randazza popped out to second base for the final out of the inning.
N.C. State added its final run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Logan Morris in the following frame, setting the stage for BC’s attempted comeback, but ultimately the Wolfpack was able to take the second contest of the three-game set and even the series at one game apiece.
The loss highlighted yet another one of the Eagles’ problems this season: errors. After committing three errors which led to five unearned runs Saturday, BC has made 56 errors this season, 10 more than any other team in the ACC. Much of that can be attributed to the Eagles’ youth this season, but that has to be cleaned up if BC wants to win more consistently this season. In a competitive conference like the ACC, its untenable to spot a team five runs like the Eagles did Saturday and still expect to come out on top.
Featured Image by Jess Rivilis / Heights Staff
