The Boston University softball team celebrates a home run by Kylie Doherty (CAS’27) during a game against Merrimack March 25 in North Andover, Mass. The Terriers are set to make their home opener this weekend in search of their third straight conference title. Photo by Jim Stankiewicz

Athletics

BU Softball Home Opener Friday: Terriers Will Play on Newly Renovated Field

Team is seeking its third consecutive conference title

No matter who’s playing on the Boston University softball team, head coach Ashley Waters makes the expectation clear: winning championships.

The team is coming off back-to-back Patriot League titles, six straight regular season titles, and a 0.704 winning percentage since Waters took the helm in 2016, making the Terriers a Northeast powerhouse.

“Our goals will never change, regardless of what the roster looks like,” Waters (Wheelock’22) says. “We’re definitely in that phase of learning, and that’s okay. It’s just a matter of: can we continue to learn from our failures?”

This year’s team looks significantly different from last season’s, as the Terriers prepare to host their home opener against Colgate on Friday. BU graduated five seniors and four graduate students, last May, adding seven freshmen and two transfer students to make up for their loss. 

“We’ve just really tried to kind of reiterate what we were always told when we were underclassmen. And I know, as the captains, we’ve kind of mimicked how previous leaders have led the team,” captain Sydney Pecoraro (Sargent’25) says. “We just want to pull that championship mindset out of the freshmen so they get to experience it.”

The team boasts a 19-10 record following a difficult nonconference slate. Since the Terriers started Patriot League play last weekend, they have gone 3-0 in conference play, defeating Bucknell by a combined margin of 30-13 across the weekend.

Most recently, BU swept Merrimack in a two-game series on March 25 with 7-0 and 8-0 victories.

“Our team is on a great upward trajectory. We worked through a lot of stuff in preseason and now, heading into conference, we’re looking really good and really strong,” Pecoraro says. “Playing hard opponents out of conference really makes us that much better, so that when we get in conference, we’re more prepared, and we can just unleash.”

Waters says her team’s offense has been much improved since the start of the season. The team has scored at least seven runs in 10 of the last 11 games. Infielder Brooke Deppiesse (Questrom’26), who was named to the All-Patriot League preseason team, leads the team in batting average at .444, 27 RBIs, and a team-leading 8 stolen bases.

Kylie Doherty (CAS’27), Megan Coyle (CAS’26), and Libby Walsh (COM’27) have all recorded a batting average above .300. Doherty leads the team in home runs with 7 and RBIs with 29; meanwhile, Coyle was also named to the All-Patriot League preseason team. 

“I’m just excited about where the bats are. I feel like our offense has really picked up. We set our pitchers up to be in a better position to throw their game and relax a little bit,” Waters says, adding: “Any time you have Kasey Ricard on your side, you have a chance.”

Ricard (Sargent’26) is a standout pitcher for the Terriers, known for strikeout dominance in the circle, with 125 on the season so far. Last year, the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year and All-America honoree recorded 265 Ks, which ranked her second in the entire NCAA. She was nominated for Patriot League Preseason Pitcher of the Year entering this season.

For the first time in her BU career, however, Ricard is operating in rotation without Allison Boaz (ENG’24) and Lizzy Avery (ENG’24), two of last year’s graduates. 

“She’s had to hold her own even when she hasn’t had her best stuff, and I think she knows when she starts a game, the idea is for her to finish it,” Waters says. “We believe in Kasey and in what she can do.”

Ricard owns a 2.17 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) across 122.1 innings pitched. Waters says she has had a “little more trial and tribulations” than in previous seasons. 

Danika Nell (Sargent’28) has given Ricard relief throughout the early parts of the season, but Nell had an injury and hasn’t pitched since late February. The thin pitching room also includes support from Ava Johnson (ENG’28) and Haley Ganino (CAS’26).

Waters has identified one area for improvement: defense. She says tough teams are able to steal hits and make the bigger plays. 

“The outfield is going to be key to that,” shed says. “We need them to make big catches, we need them to make big outs, and I think they’ve been a little bit slow to start.”

The Terriers home opener Friday will be played on a softball field that recently underwent phase three of a four-phase renovation project, which included replacing the grass field with turf and implementing a grass viewing berm in center field for fans. 

Waters says it was really emotional seeing the new field for the first time. She played on the field as a member of the University of Maine’s softball team and later coached on the field as an assistant at Harvard, before becoming head coach at BU. She says the buy-in and belief in the program has been “incredibly special.”

“In the history of BU softball, they’ve won a lot of championships, and there are really incredible alumni who have built this field—and I don’t take that for granted,” Waters says. “I always tell our kids, it’s really special when people care about our program or love our program.”

The Boston University softball team will face Colgate in three games this weekend, beginning Friday, March 28, at 1 pm. Game two of the doubleheader will play at 3 pm, and the last game will be on Saturday, March 29, at noon. Admission is free. All of this weekend’s games will stream live on ESPN+.