Boston College Athletics
Softball Begins Road Trip at UMass-Amherst Wednesday
April 02, 2012 | Softball
April 2, 2012
Chestnut Hill, Mass. – The Boston College softball team opens a five-game road stretch at UMass-Amherst on Wednesday, April 4 at 4 p.m. The Eagles (19-12, 1-5 ACC) then travel to NC State for a three-game conference series and return to New England for a meeting with Bryant University.
Last weekend, BC earned one win in a ACC series against Virginia. The Eagles took game two, 10-4, while surrendering the first and third, 7-4, 5-1. Boston College hit six home runs on the weekend, two coming from junior Nicole D’Argento in back-to-back at-bats. Senior catcher Brittany Wilkins posted a team-high batting average (.500), followed by freshman Andrea Filler (.444) and D’Argento (.400).
Wilkins leads the conference in batting (.398), while D’Argento (.354) and senior Ali Lynette-Krech (.351) boast the third and fourth best averages in the league. The Suffolk, Va. native also tops the ACC in on-base percentage (.485) and hit by pitches (11), while ranking second in slugging (.627).
BC is producing 4.26 runs per games, while allowing 3.35. The Maroon and Gold pitching staff has handled 198 innings, collected 145 strikeouts and a 3.22 earned run average. D’Argento leads the team with 23 appearances and 72 Ks. Sophomore Amanda Horowitz is second on BC with 11 starts and 44 strikeouts, while Morgan Kidd’s ERA of 1.45 in 13 outings is is fifth best in the ACC.
Boston College ranks in the ACC’s top three teams for batting (.287), slugging (.436), on-base (.362), home runs (24), fewest hits allowed (163) and fewest home runs allowed (14).
UMass (16-10) carried a five-game win streak into its Tuesday matchup with UConn, having defeated Dayton, Quinnipiac and St. Louis. The Minutewomen, who are contesting three games in as many days starting with the Huskies, are hitting .266 on the year and averaging 4.04 runs per game. All-American Sara Ploude has registered 259 strikeouts this season, breaking the school’s career K mark, and leads the team with a 2.50 ERA. Cyndil Matthew has the team’s highest batting average (.420), while Q. Diaz-Patterson paces the squad in slugging (.568), RBI (22), home runs (4) and doubles (8).
NC State (15-22, 0-8 ACC) is 1-9 in its last 10 games. The Wolf Pack was swept by Georgia Tech last weekend, 6-3, 6-3, 5-2, but will meet East Carolina in a midweek doubleheader before hosting BC. Morgan Peeler (5-7) and Emily Weiman have split most of the time on the mound for NC State. Peeler has a 2.69 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 20 outings, while Weiman hold 152 Ks and a 2.83 ERA to her credit in 26 appearances. Bethaney Wells charges the lineup with 29 RBI and a .523 slugging percentage, while Renada Davis leads the way with a .307 batting clip and .400 OBP.
All games will be available to be followed live via a stream (UMass : NC State) and GameTracker (UMass : NC State).
