Dartmouth (22-21, 13-7 Ivy) had seven hits, compared to the twelve recorded by BC (18-28, 3-12 ACC). With these numbers, the game could have been closer, co-captain Ashley Gleason '09 said.
"We did well in the box," she said. "But they were able to get the hits when they needed them and string those hits together."
Hillary Barker '12 was tagged with the loss after giving up two runs, neither of which were earned, and three hits in the first three innings. Kat Hicks '12 came into the circle to finish out the game, hitting two batters and allowing nine hits.
Led by catcher Amy Tunstall, the Eagles posted their highest number of hits on the season. Tunstall went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and her fifth home run of the season.
For the Big Green, Leigha Clarkson '10 batted in both of the two runs. Her fifth-inning double was Dartmouth's only extra-base hit of the game. Gleason also cranked out two hits. Alyssa Parker '10, who leads the Big Green in batting with a .336 average, singled in the first inning and reached base on an error in the third.
In the first inning, a hit batter and an infield error helped the Eagles post a 2-0 lead. This was not an auspicious start for Dartmouth, as the team is only 7-17 this season when its opponents score first.
The Eagles held their lead for the remainder of the game.
With two outs in the top of the third, the Big Green cut BC's lead to 2-1. With runners on first and second, Clarkson singled to left field, knocking in Gleason. The inning ended, however, with runners on base.
"We actually had them pretty subdued for the first couple innings," co-captain Christy Autin '10 said. "It was good hitting on their part, and we just didn't quite get the key hits when we had runners in scoring position."
The game turned away from the Big Green's favor in the bottom of the fourth. Mixing screaming line drives with sacrifice bunts, the Eagles batted around their lineup and scored five runs, bringing the score to 7-1.
Clarkson's RBI double in the fifth was not enough to pull Dartmouth back into the game, as the Eagles answered with three more runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Although softball games normally last seven innings, the game ended with only two outs in the bottom of the sixth because of BC's eight-run lead.
While Tunstall's two-run homer was a key moment in the game, the Eagles did have some help getting runners on base. Hicks hit two batters and walked one in the sixth.
Barker currently leads the Big Green's rotation with a 3.25 ERA, and has held batters to an average of .284. She has appeared in 28 games and carries a record of 8-12.
Gleason said that Barker had a strong showing in Tuesday's game, adding that the team's hitting was the bright spot in the loss.
"I think we did well hitting," she said. "We just looked at our defense and it needs a little more work this week."
The defensive mistakes were costly, as Dartmouth produced three errors, compared to only one by BC.
The Big Green clinched the team's first Ivy League Northern Division title last weekend when Dartmouth split a four-game series with Harvard. The team will now head to the Ivy League championship at Cornell, which won the Southern Division.
Both Dartmouth captains said that the BC game served as practice to prepare for the Big Red (40-10, 17-3 Ivy), and that the loss will not hurt the team's momentum going into the series.
"[The BC game] was an opportunity to fine-tune, and to see what we need to work on for the weekend," Autin said. "We split with Cornell in the regular season, and we're the last team that they want to face right now."
The Big Green will begin a best-of-three series on Saturday for the Ivy League crown. If Dartmouth wins the championship, the team will head to the NCAA Regionals for the first time ever, Gleason said.
"We've never won the Northern Division, never won Ivies, so it's just a great feeling," she said. "Our team is so close right now. We're like a family, and we're doing this for each other, and it's just really exciting."
The Big Green will battle the Big Red for the title at 12:30 and 3 p.m. on Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y., with a third game on Sunday if necessary.
