The Matchup
Lafayette travels to New England to face Boston U in a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday (both slated to start at noon). All games are scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+.

The Leopards
Freshman Marisa Powell continues to lead the team in hitting. The versatile outfielder is batting at a .327 clip in 23 games and has also made three starts in the circle for the Leopards. Overall, she has started 20 of 21 games, mostly in the outfield.

Freshman Kylee Sweet is hitting for a .529 average in Patriot League action with nine hits in 17 at bats. Sweet homered in each game of the Drexel doubleheader on Tuesday when the teams split. Senior Kaili Reitano sits at .383 average in league play.  

Soph. pitcher Morrigan Gardiner also has stepped up her game up for conference action. The Philosophy major is 1-0 in four appearances with a 2.80 ERA, allowing just four earned runs over 10 innings with a 5:1 strikeout to walk ratio.  

The Opponent
Boston U. comes into the weekend at 28-7 overall and 3-0 in Patriot League play after sweeping Holy Cross (11-1, 6-0 and 9-0) in the Terriers' only conference series of the season. BU counts Penn State, Georgia Tech and No. 12/16 Baylor among its early non-conference wins, as the Terriers played in five tournaments to start the season. Boston last played on Tuesday, sweeping a doubleheader with UMass-Lowell (4-0, 8-0). 

Junior INF Kayla Roncin is swinging a hot bat, hitting for a .466 average with a team-leading five home runs and 31 RBI. Roncin was the 2022 Patriot League Player of the Year, when she hit for a .431 average (14th in the nation). Classmate Lauren Keleher comes in at .393 with 16 extra-base hits and 22 RBI.  

The Terriers' pitching staff holds a 1.60 ERA , led by senior Allison Boaz (13-4, 1.58 ERA) and freshman Kasey Ricard (11-2, 1.71 ERA). Opponents are hitting .200 against BU and the team defense has committed just 17 errors through 35 games.

A New Skipper
Karavin Dew was named head coach of the Lafayette softball program on Aug. 15, 2022, arriving on College Hill after five collegiate coaching stops. Dew spent the 2022 season as an assistant coach at Tennessee State where she helped the team set a mark for its most wins since the 2014 campaign. Dew was responsible for developing and implementing practice plans for the pitchers and catchers and was integrally involved in recruiting. Prior to her lone season at the school in Nashville, Tennessee, she spent the fall 2021 campaign at Austin Peay State University as an assistant coach and director of operations. That followed three seasons (2019-21) at Brown University in Providence, R.I. where she worked primarily with the team's hitters, infielders and catchers. Dew was integrally involved with student-athlete recruitment at the Ivy League school while also helping to organize the school's softball camps while facilitating team travel. 
 
Dew worked the 2017-18 school year as a volunteer assistant coach at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, mentoring the program's catchers while also involving herself in video analysis and scouting. The year prior, Dew was an assistant coach at Brevard College, assisting in all aspects of the Division III program in North Carolina. Dew graduated from Western Kentucky in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in elementary education. She was two-time (2011, 2012) All-Sun Belt Conference First-Team selection who helped guide the Hilltoppers to the 2013 NCAA Regional. The catcher set a school record for triples in a season (5) in 2011. A dean's list student, Dew was a Sunbelt Conference Honor Roll selection from 2010-13.
 
Next Up
Lafayette returns home for a mid-week doubleheader when it hosts Fairleigh Dickinson at 3 p.m. on Wednesday that will kick off the Leopards' second eight-game homestand of the season.