Kaitlyn Schmeiser

Though Cathedral City, California, is more than 2,500 miles away from College Park some members of the Terrapins softball team will be closer to home than usual this weekend as the team travels to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.

The Terps current roster consists of seven players from The Golden State: infielders Jacqui Pascual, Juli Strange, Mandy Gardner; outfielders Kylie Datil and Destiney Henderson; catcher Shannon Bustillos; and pitcher Hannah Dewey.

“[It’s] kind of like my home tournament, so I take that one probably more personally than the others,” Dewey said.

While the tournament will serve as a homecoming for some, it will serve as a test for the team as a whole.

“The Palm Springs tournament is arguably the most competitive softball tournament in the country,” coach Courtney Scott Deifel said. “To be there and play tough competition, every game, there’s not many tournaments like that so every game will be a challenge.”

The Terps will look to improve on their 6-4 record this weekend. They’ll face No. 24 Notre Dame then BYU on Thursday, Nevada on Friday and finish the tournament against UNLV and Long Beach State on Saturday.

Last weekend at the FAU Strike-Out Cancer Tournament in Florida, the Terps pitchers dazzled. Dewey and Kaitlyn “KK” Schmeiser pitched 33 ⅓ innings combined, posting a 1.05 ERA, 32 strikeouts and an opposing batting average of .120.

The team hopes to mesh lights-out pitching with solid hitting this weekend.

“Last week we really put the bats together,” Schmeiser said after the tournament in Florida last weekend. “This week we really put the defense together, and I think next weekend it’s gonna come together so I’m excited,”

After scoring 31 runs in their first tournament in South Carolina, the Terps only managed 18 in Florida last weekend.

“We’re gonna give some really good teams a run for their money,” Schmeiser said. “We’re gonna beat a few really, really good teams.”

The Terps didn’t top too many high-caliber opponents last season, but their start this year has jolted confidence into the squad.

After winning 11 games in their 2014 campaign, the Terps have already won six games in the first two weeks of this season. Plus, each of the Terps’ four losses have come in one-run games, so they feel they’re close to a breakthrough this weekend.

“We’re gonna surprise a lot of people,” Dewey said. “Especially with how many people go to that tournament.”