Saturday Game
Looking to avoid dropping its third consecutive ACC series, Boston College softball sought to tie up the series in its Saturday game against Syracuse by overcoming the offensive woes that plagued the Eagles in the first game of the weekend—a 7–1 loss on Friday afternoon.
While the top of the first appeared to begin more fruitfully than Friday’s game did, as a Gator Robinson double and Hannah Slike single put two runners on with one out, back-to-back pop-outs in the infield kept the Eagles from capitalizing.
Kelly Colleran struggled with her command early, as consecutive wild pitches in the bottom of the first allowed Jadyn Burney to reach third base.
Burney went on to score thanks to a sacrifice fly, giving the Orange (26–19, 5–15 Atlantic Coast) its first lead of the day—one that would persist, as Syracuse ultimately beat the Eagles (21–25, 5–16) 16–2.
Though it seemed that Taylor Posner would perpetuate Colleran’s struggles with giving up the long ball, a catch from Kali Case against the wall in deep center field kept the score at 1–0 heading into the second.
In the top of the second, a Janis Espinoza double to left field gave BC hope of responding to Syracuse’s early lead, but pitcher Madison Knight shut down the next two batters to maintain her team’s 1–0 advantage.
Colleran’s difficulties continued into the bottom of the second, as two walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with two outs. This, combined with successful small ball and errors, scored two runs for the Orange while it was still early in the inning.
Colleran then walked in a run on a full-count at-bat, setting up Posner to send a moonshot grand slam over Case’s head in center field to cap off Syracuse’s seven-run inning and end Colleran’s outing.
Coming in to relieve Colleran, Gabriella Aughton secured the final out of the inning to end BC’s nightmare inning.
Seemingly unfazed by the Orange’s onslaught in the previous frame, the Eagles managed to push two runners into scoring position off of an Emma Jackson single and Slike double, but once again couldn’t take advantage, sustaining the eight-run deficit headed into the bottom of the third.
The third brought even more troubles for BC, though.
Aughton walked the first batter she faced in the third, and then a wild pitch sent that runner to second. Another wild pitch scored a runner from third to extend the lead to 9–0, but the disaster wasn’t quite over yet.
Aughton’s pitch control continued to falter, as a walk and a single put two runners on with two outs, enough for the Eagles to look towards the bullpen.
On the first pitch of her outing, Shannon MacLeod allowed a single into left field to score a runner from second, pushing the Orange’s lead to double digits.
In the very next at-bat, Vanessa Flores sent a three-RBI home run into right field, continuing Syracuse’s offensive domination and pushing the lead to 13–0.
Macleod managed to finally close out the bottom of the third with a fly out, but the damage of a five-run inning put the Eagles in a deep hole that was ultimately too deep for them to climb out of.
BC finally got a much-needed spark, as Abby Ptak sent a two-RBI home run deep into left-center field, scoring herself and Espinoza to end the shutout and send the game into the bottom of the fourth with a score of 13–2.
Like clockwork, the Orange offense continued to pour it on, scoring three more runs off Macleod pitches to push the score to 16–2 heading into potentially the final inning of the game due to the NCAA’s run rule.
Needing seven runs to avoid being mercy ruled, the Eagles would have to put on a huge offensive show to have any shot at keeping themselves in the game.
This wouldn’t be the case, though, as three consecutive groundouts sent BC batters out in order, ending the game 16–2, tied for the Eagles’ biggest loss this season.
Friday Game
On Friday, BC opened the weekend series with a 7–1 loss to Syracuse, as the Eagles were outhit 12–4 thanks to a dominant pitching performance from Syracuse pitcher Madison Knight.
Though both squads seemed evenly matched heading into the bottom of the second with a 1–1 stalemate, the Orange offense put the pressure on Colleran early, squeezing four runs off of six hits and four extra-base hits to end her day after 1.1 innings pitched.
Bailey Kendziorski and Macleod, in relief, pitched only one additional run each over the remaining 4.2 innings.
But struggles at the plate, including eight strikeouts, limited the Eagles’ ability to respond, and they fell behind in the series.
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