After a stretch of 20 road games to start its 2024 season, Boston College softball played its first game at Harrington Athletics Village against Stonehill on Tuesday.
“It’s great to be home,” BC head coach Amy Kvilhaug said. “That’s what we actually just talked in the huddle about, setting the standard with what we want out of home games, and we did.”
The Eagles (13–8, 1–2 Atlantic Coast) dominated Stonehill with the home-field advantage, scoring runs in all five innings of the game en route to an 8–0 run-rule and shutout win that was never in question.
Freshman pitcher Addison Jackson, who entered the contest with a 1.27 ERA, toed the rubber for BC and kept the Skyhawks at bay all game. Jackson allowed no runs and allowed just two hits, pitching all five innings.
“Addison did a good job,” Kvilhaug said. “She had some health issues, and she’s coming back from that. So we’re working on getting her velo up, and it’s still not where it needs to be … so it was good to just get her out there, get her work, get her experience, so she continues on the trajectory, but I thought she did a good job.”
BC’s offense wasted no time giving the Eagles an advantage. After Emma Jackson walked on four pitches, Hannah Slike stepped up to the plate and launched a homer to left-center field to make it a 2–0 game. The Eagles added two more base runners in the frame, but they were stranded on base.
“Hannah is great,” Kvilhaug said. “I mean, she’s awesome. She does a lot of things well for us, you know, she’s our number one catcher. She’s, I believe she’s leading the team in hitting and just, you know, what she did today is what she’s capable of.”
Stonehill made a push in the second, putting runners on first and second with one out, but two popouts put the inning to rest. Meanwhile, the Eagles’ offense went right back to work.
Kali Case ripped a triple down the first base line and Gator Robinson drove a line-drive single through the infield to make it 3–0 in the bottom of the second.
BC’s defense was on full display throughout the game, as Jackson recorded just one strikeout, forcing the Eagles to back their pitcher up. In the top of the third, a hard ground ball ricocheted off of Jackson’s glove, but Emma Jackson scooped the ball up and shoveled the ball to first to narrowly beat the runner and end the inning.
“Our defense has been doing what they do all year long, which is backing up our pitching staff, which is why our pitching numbers are so good,” Kvilhaug said. “I attribute a lot of that to the defense that we’re playing.”
BC added three runs to its lead in the bottom of the third when Maycee Hilt sent a shot to dead-center field to give BC a 5–0 lead and Jackson singled to score Case to extend the lead to six runs.
The Eagles continued to score every time they had the bats in their hands, and BC tacked on an extra run in the fourth inning when Hilt knocked in Katelyn Deguire.
BC put the game away in the bottom of the fifth inning when Nicole Giery picked up the winning RBI, grounding out and scoring Jackson to make it 8–0 and give the Eagles the run-rule win in a dominant offensive performance.
“I love the patience that all of the girls showed,” Kvilhaug said. “You know, seven walks today like, even though that’s a pitching staff that you would like to really kind of beat up a little bit, you know, with some of their numbers. I think taking walks is equally as valuable. And that’s what I told the team.”
