Boston College softball left Birmingham, Ala. on Sunday with three wins under its belt after sweeping its games in the Samford Tournament.
After the Eagles (8–5) won their doubleheader on Saturday, defeating Samford (8–3) and Indiana State (7–4), the Eagles were set to face the same teams on Sunday. Officials canceled BC’s first game against Samford because of rain, but the Eagles played Indiana State and came out with a 10–2 win after five innings.
Indiana State scored the first two runs of Sunday’s game in the bottom of the second inning. BC right hander Peyton Schnackenberg gave up two walks and a hit to start the inning. Danielle Henning’s flyout allowed one runner to score. The second runner scored on a groundout in the next at-bat.
From there, Schnackenberg found her rhythm, committing two errors and allowing four hits for the remainder of the game, earning her fourth win of the season.
In the top of the third, BC’s offense broke out, scoring six runs and erasing Samford’s two-run lead.
BC’s six-run third inning began with an Ellie Mataya single to right field. Hannah Slike slid a single through the right side to send Mataya to second. Darien McDonough followed Slike’s hit with a three-run homer to left-center field, bringing home Slike and Mataya.
Up 3–2 after McDonough’s homer, the Eagles were not finished. Indiana State’s Cassi Newbanks hit Abigail Knight with a pitch, sending her to first. Nicole Giery followed with a flyout to first, and Djhane Valido singled down the middle. With two on base, Gianna Boccagno stepped up to the plate and hit a homer to left field, bringing in another three runs.
After Boccagno’s homer, Indiana State substituted Hailey Griffin for Newbanks. Griffin walked Kennedy Labshere, and Erika Andal lined out to end the inning with the Eagles on top 6–2.
Both teams had quiet third and fourth innings, but the Eagles pulled away even further in the top of the fifth. After a single to start the inning, pinch runner Kali Case showed her speed as she stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Valido then hit a single to left field, which brought Case home.
With the bases loaded later in the inning, Mataya hit a sac fly, allowing Zoe Hines to advance to second, Maddy Carpe to third, and Valido home. Slike finished the inning off by singling to left field and bringing in Hines and Carpe for the last runs of the game. After Indiana State failed to score in the bottom of the fifth, BC walked home a run-rule win.
BC’s bats exploded on Sunday, as four Eagles recorded multi-hit games. Mataya led the team with three hits, while Slike, Valido, and Boccagno each recorded two. Boccagno and McDonough led the team with three RBIs each.
Featured Image by Aditya Rao / Heights Staff
