Terrapins softball coach Julie Wright hoped the start of Big Ten play would provide a clean slate for her faltering team.
But after three losses to Ohio State by a combined score of 29-9 to start conference action this weekend, she was left upset at the lack of progress shown.
While the Buckeyes (18-7, 3-0 Big Ten) were a tough opening opponent — they received votes in the last national poll — Wright said her team didn’t challenge them enough.
“The effort that I really wanted from them was not there,” Wright said. In particular, Friday’s 12-2 loss and Sunday’s 13-4 loss struck her as times when the team didn’t compete to the level she expects.
Once again, the biggest problem for the Terps (7-23, 0-3 Big Ten) was their pitching, which allowed seven home runs in three games, including two game-ending blasts. The Terps have now lost eight straight games.
Buckeyes outfielder Alex Bayne hit three of those home runs and added nine RBIs in the series.
Pitcher Hannah Dewey, who started Friday and Sunday, continued to struggle with her command, walking 10 batters in just two innings of work. She has walked a team-high 52 batters this season in 58.1 innings.
Meanwhile, pitcher Brenna Nation’s problems with allowing big hits persisted. She surrendered four extra-base hits in four innings in the series.
“It’s very frustrating to watch your pitchers continue to do the same things over and over,” Wright said. “We need to make a change there.”
The coach pointed to pitcher Madison Martin as an example of how she wants the rest of her rotation to perform. Martin, who is still recovering from reconstructive foot surgery, started on Saturday and pitched 6.1 innings, allowing four runs.
Though Martin’s Saturday start ended in disappointment for the Terps — with a 3-2 lead, she gave up a walk-off two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh — she turned in the best performance of the weekend.
“Madison threw a great game,” Wright said. “I know she lost in a walk-off, but she competed and kept us close.”
Outfielder Sarah Calta, who went 6-for-10 with three RBIs over the weekend, called Saturday’s 4-3 defeat “heartbreaking.”
For a moment, it looked as though she would be the hero. With a runner at first and two outs in the seventh and the score knotted at 2-2, Calta roped a go-ahead triple over the center fielder’s head.
Still, when Calta turned from her position in right field to watch the Buckeyes’ walk-off home run sail over the fence, she didn’t keep her head down.
“It didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, but we still looked to stay positive,” Calta said. “We learned a lot from that game.”
