Chestnut Hill, Mass. – The Boston College softball team will spend one more weekend in sunny Florida at the USF Invitational. The Eagles will face Marist, Saint Joseph’s, Colgate, Indiana and the host USF at the USF Softball Stadium.

A Look at the USF Invite

Marist is currently 5-4 and picked up two MAAC weekly awards. Haley Ahr was named Player of the Week, and Stella Blanchard is Pitcher of the Week. Ahr hit .500 with a 1.349 OPS (.786 slugging, .563 on-base) in Marist’s four games in the Lion Invitational last weekend. Blanchard went 2-0 with an ERA of 0.66 and a WHIP of 1.13 in her two appearances this past week. The opposition hit just .195 against her.

Saint Joseph’s is coming off a double header loss by Delaware and is now 2-4. Grace Brown is leading the Hawks with a .400 batting average. Riley York has a 1.000 OPS over 13 at bats.

This will be the third tournament of the season for Colgate. The Raiders are 3-7 heading down to Florida. Nora Megenity and Marian Taveras have the highest batting averages. Colgate has hit 12 home runs so far this season coming from six different batters.

The hosts are 10-4 so far this season and BC looks to bounce back from the last inning defeat last Saturday. McKenna Schroding has an ERA of 1.84 and two shutouts under her belt, only allowing 11 hits over 19 innings in the circle for the Bulls. Toryn Fulton and Kathy Garcia-Soto are leading the Bulls in batting average and each hold an over 1.000 OPS. Garcia-Soto is tied for the national lead with three triples.

Indiana is coming from the Littlewood Invitational with a 7-3 record. Notably in the the first two games of the tournament, the Hoosiers outscored Portland State 23-0 and held No. 22 Arizona State to a one run victory (7-6). Ellie Goins holds a .520 batting average over 25 at bats with two runs and 10 RBI. Five batters in the lineup hold OPS over 1.000. In the circle, Aubree Hooks has the lowest ERA at 1.27.

Last Time Out

The Eagles went 2–3 in their second weekend of play at the Fonseca Memorial Tournament. BC opened the tournament with a 4–2 victory over Kansas. The weekend was highlighted by first career home runs in the Maroon and Gold from Nicole Riddell, Emma Knight, and Kiley Buckley. Abby Ptak extended her hitting streak to seven games over the five-game stretch, continuing her consistent production at the plate.

Bullpen Crew

Five pitchers made appearances last weekend, anchoring a strong showing in the circle for the Eagles. Emily Van Cleef earned her second win of the season against DePaul. Alyx Rossi led the staff with seven strikeouts and a 1.05 ERA over 6.2 innings, allowing just one walk in 11 total innings this season, the lowest mark in the ACC.

Kelly Colleran logged 10 innings of work, holding opponents to a .167 batting average while recording six strikeouts. She currently ranks in the top 10 in the ACC with 19 strikeouts. Halie Pappion closed out a win against Kansas, pitching the final three innings and allowing just one hit while striking out three.

PTAK ATTACK!

Ptak led the Eagles at the plate for the second straight weekend, batting .467 with a .500 OPS. She tallied seven hits and drove in two runs, continuing her consistent offensive production. Ptak also made a key defensive play in a tight game against USF, throwing out a runner attempting to advance to second base.

Carly Coming in Clutch

Carly Bunnell closed out the weekend with a .429 batting average and a .571 slugging percentage. The Eagles opened the scoring in the third inning against USF when Bunnell ripped a double down the left-field line, followed by an infield single from Kae DePerio. Bunnell snuck home while DePerio rounded the bag at first.

UP NEXT

The Eagles will start ACC play at North Carolina as they take on the Tar Heels in a three game series that starts on Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. They will continue their travels with a midweek matchup against Carolina A&T on Wednesday, March 4.