Rochford's walk-off homer lifts BU over Flames, 8-6
In her only at-bat of the night, sophomore Emily Rochford blasted a two-run homer to right-center field to give the Bruins' a dramatic 8-6 victory over College of St. Mary on Senior Night at Roy Smith Field.
OMAHA, Neb. -- In her only at-bat of the night, sophomore Emily Rochford blasted a two-run homer to right-center field to give the Bruins' a dramatic 8-6 victory over College of St. Mary on Senior Night at Roy Smith Field.
The Bruins improved to 31-16 on the season with the victory. The Flames fell to 13-23 overall.
Rochford's walk-off was one of four homers for BU on the night as the Bruins outhit CSM, 11-8.
Kaitlyn Kinman went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a home run to pace the BU offense.
Bellevue took an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a solo homer to center field by Ashley Young and a two-run shot to left field by Kaitlyn Kinman.
Ellie Bliemeister's RBI single to center increased the BU advantage to 4-0 in the bottom of the second.
CSM got on the board in the top of the third, scoring on Alicia Baca's RBI single to center and on a bases-loaded catcher interference call, slicing the lead to 4-2.
The Flames took a 6-4 lead in the top of the fourth, highlighted by an RBI double to right field by Baca and a two-run double to left by Maddie Nekola.
Erin Sharpe launched a two-run bomb to right field to tie the contest at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth. It was her team-leading 20th home run of the season.
Using the international rule, the Bruins got out of a jam with two runners on and no outs as Monique Ashley recorded a pair of strikeouts and a pop up to end the threat, setting up Rochford's two-run shot to end the game in the bottom of the eighth.
Ashley (11-7) earned the win, replacing starter Sharpe in the fourth inning. She gave up just two hits and one walk while striking out 11 batters in the final 4 2/3 innings.
The Bruins will host Presentation College on Friday, April 19 in a 4 p.m. conference doubleheader at Roy Smith Field.