Getting buzzed in Georgia

The Boston University women's softball team has a long weekend ahead of them.

The Terriers (3-2) begin play in the Georgia Tech Buzz Classic this afternoon against the University of Iowa (8-5) at 2 p.m in Marietta, Ga. The Terriers will then play Georgia Southern University (9-7) at 5 p.m. before ending the round-robin portion of the tournament with games against Gardner-Webb University (8-9) and Dartmouth University (0-0) on Saturday.

BU will then play either one or two games Sunday, depending on its performance in the round-robin.

"There is a game shape and a mental shape," said third-year coach Shawn Rychcik. "There is no way to simulate the grind of five or six games. It wears on you. So our goal is to be consistent and mentally strong throughout the weekend."

The Terriers' first opponent of the weekend, Iowa, presents a special challenge to the team, according to Rychcik.

"They're a Big 10 school and we'd like to beat them," he said. "They have an injury to their pitching staff, and I think we have a chance to [win]."

From there, the Terriers will play another three games in round-robin play. In total, Rychcik and his team have set their goal at a 3-1 record in the first set of games.

But scouting the teams to prepare for games against non-conference foes will be hard for the Terriers. Relying on their stats this early in the season could be unreliable.

"It's hard to scout," Rychcik said. "This early in the season, a couple of good or bad games can skew your stats. We have to rely on how they played last year. There may be a little injury that's hindering, it makes it hard."

To achieve their 3-1 goal for the tournament's first portion, the Terriers will need help from their talented pitching staff.

"It always falls on the pitching," Rychcik said. "We need them to keep us in the game."

The Terriers will be counting on senior Brittany Detwiler to lead the pitching staff. The right-hander has already thrown a no-hitter this year and has compiled a 3-1 record in five appearances, with a 3.36 ERA.

In her two starts this year, she has pitched two complete-game shutouts, including the no-hitter. If she can continue her solid starting pitching, BU should be in good shape.

The Terriers will also need their bats to provide some timely hitting. So far this year, the Terriers have struggled with driving in base runners. BU has left 32 runners on base, compared to just 25 for their opposition. But Rychcik is confident in his hitters.

"The top of the order needs to get on base so we can drive them in," he said. "Chiya [Louie], Christy [Leath] and Rachel had nice weekends last weekend. I expect the middle of the lineup to produce all year."

Leath, a sophomore catcher, had the best week of any Terrier slugger, earning America East Player of the Week for her performance. The backstop hit .462 over five games, knocking in three runners to go with a .563 on-base percentage and a .692 slugging percentage -- all tops on the team.

And the coach is confident some of his players who got off to rough starts, especially senior second baseman Brandi Shields (.125 BA with 4 strikeouts), will bounce back this weekend.

"Brandi has been a consistent player since she's been here," Rychcik said. "Looking at stats, they may go after Brandi, but that may be a mistake for them. I'd like to see Brandi have a good weekend, [and] I expect her to. I'm not too worried."

And in the end, Rychcik said he feels his team's success will depend on consistency - something it struggled with last weekend when it managed to win one game 11-0, while losing another 13-3.

"Our goal is to be consistent," he said. "If we do that, we'll just let the chips fall where they do."