2024 Patriot League Player of the Year Lauren Keleher (Sargent’24) hoists the Patriot League Softball championship trophy after the team beat Lehigh 1-0 Saturday. Photo by Jim Pierce, BU Athletics

Varsity Sports

BU Softball Claims Patriot League Title, Begins NCAA Tournament Play Friday

Deppiesse’s double, shutout pitching key to 1-0 victory over Lehigh, earning Terriers fifth title in six seasons

After seven innings of scoreless softball sent the game to extra innings Saturday, Boston University scored the title game’s only run to claim the Terriers’ fifth Patriot League title in six seasons. 

Undefeated in conference play and 52-4-1 overall, the No. 21/22 Terriers defeated Lehigh (32-20) 1-0 at the BU Softball Field on May 11. 

In a matchup of the Patriot League’s two highest-scoring offenses, defense and pitching would define this year’s title match. Second baseman Brooke Deppiesse (CAS’26, Questrom’26) broke through in the eighth, stroking the game’s only extra-base hit, a double, and later scoring on a fielding error. Allison Boaz (ENG’23, GRS’24) pitched 6.1 shutout innings before PL Pitcher of the Year Kasey Ricard (Sargent’26) would strike out the side to secure Patriot League gold. 

“If you told me one run was going to be enough, I wouldn’t have agreed with that,” Terriers head coach (and now five-time PL Coach of the Year) Ashley Waters (Wheelock’22) said postgame. “But that’s how the game panned out. I am impressed all around with the different contributions up and down the lineup.”

The Terriers entered Saturday’s championship match after beating Army West-Point 2-0 in Thursday’s opening round and Bucknell 5-2 in the semifinal on Friday. Given the double-elimination tournament format, the undefeated Terriers needed to win just once to claim another conference title, and therefore played Saturday’s game as the visiting team—batting first—despite hosting the game as the tournament’s top seed. 

BU’s lineup boasts three Patriot League Players of the Year—in order, Lauren Keleher (Sargent’24) (2024), Kayla Roncin (Sargent’24) (2022, 2023), and Caitlin Coker (CAS’24, GRS’24) (2021), yet the Terriers’ top offensive contributors went a combined 0-12 Saturday. Instead, cleanup hitter Deppiesse and first baseman Lauren Nett (CAS’24) (batting sixth) played heroes in Saturday’s victory. 

Nett went 2-4 with two singles. She hit the game-winning RBI in the eighth—a line drive to second base that snuck past Lehigh second baseman Julia Mrochko into the outfield—a fielding error that plated the game’s only run after the Deppiesse double. 

“I wanted to show up for my team, and that’s what motivates me,” Nett said postgame. “Going in, I wanted to have this moment with my team before I graduate and move on. It was just them—I wanted to do it for them.”

BU’s Boaz and Lehigh’s Katelyn Young dueled shutout frames, limiting opposing lineups to six hits and one walk for the Mountain Hawks, and five hits and four walks for the Terriers. Although Young picked up the loss, she pitched eight innings, surrendering the unearned run in the eighth. 

Boaz, a two-time Patriot League Pitcher of the Year (2022, 2023), handed the ball off to Ricard, this year’s top pitcher, in the bottom of the seventh. After BU gained the lead in the top of the eighth, Ricard punched three strikeouts to earn the title and secure the 2024 Patriot League Tournament MVP. 

“Obviously, Boaz held them and kept it close for us the whole game,” Nett said. “Kasey—words aren’t enough to describe her play, how she pitches, and her energy overall. She’s just amazing.” 

Nett, who earned PL All-Tournament Team honors alongside Ricard, Deppiesse, and catcher Audrey Sellers (Sargent’23, Questrom’24), is one of nine seniors or graduate students on BU’s roster.

Waters said Saturday’s close matchup had more than a Patriot League title riding on the result.

“My anxiety has been so high this entire year because of how special the senior and fifth-year classes are,” Waters said. “For me, anything that would have fallen short would have been a disappointment. I’m so incredibly proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish. It is a bittersweet feeling to know that we just won a championship, but these kids are gonna walk out the door.” 

The Boston University softball team has clinched an automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament, facing Oregon, No. 2–ranked Oklahoma, and Cleveland State in the Norman Regional, beginning May 17 at Love’s Field in Norman, Okla. The 2024 Women’s College World Series hosts the nation’s top eight and begins on May 30 in Oklahoma City.