Buffalo softball drops doubleheader to Miami Friday afternoon

Softball is getting better. It's there. I promise. But it's still a tough season continuing on.

The good news from yesterday is that UB will indeed face Ball State today at a non-Indiana location -- Oxford, OH, where the Bulls dropped a pair of games 6-0 and 9-8 to the RedHawks. That's the bad news from yesterday.

I had started to get away from the three big keys to UB Softball games, but yesterday they returned in a clear way:

Big defensive innings/early holes: Miami scored five runs in the first inning of each double header. In one game, the hosts finished with 'just' six. In the other, they rolled on to finish with nine.

Inconsistent defense: It's getting better, but it's still not 'good.' UB committed four errors in one game and zero in the other. Unfortunately, the four errors came in the more winnable contest, when the Bulls had a working offense.

Pitching: Hayley Barrow just didn't have it in the first game, walking four to just two hits and letting five runs come around before she was removed having only retired two RedHawks. Bobbi Langlois pitched well in relief.

In the second game, UB got five innings from Langlois, but also got six unearned runs as Miami led 8-4 through those five innings.

The good-ish news is that Lace Smith is tearing it up from the circle in Florida and will be here next year.

***

Outside of those big three, it was another inconsistent day from the offense, which registered just three hits and four walks in the first game, but eight and six in the second. Barrow had a first-inning home run and in general the top half of the order all put up good numbers.

Today's games against Ball State will be a chance for the Bulls to take another step forward, however small. The team is showing they can play defense and hit the ball -- and more rarely, pitch effectively -- but games where everything comes together are still rare.

I should be able to get a recap up tonight, along with track news. Go Bulls