Kendra Knight

A lack of clutch hitting had followed the Terrapins softball team through a stretch of six straight losses, through eight defeats in its past 10 games.

The Terps got exactly what they needed last night during a doubleheader sweep of George Mason. With another ACC road trip looming this weekend, a breakthrough couldn’t have come at a better time.

“We remembered how to win again,” pitcher Kaitlyn Schmeiser said after her complete-game 6-3 victory in the nightcap.

The Terps’ energy was apparent from the get-go, even as the offense struggled to get off the ground. For a midweek game against a middling squad, the crowd was a particularly vocal one.

“They say that excitement is contagious, and it really is,” Schmeiser said. “We were just remembering how to have fun.”

Look no further than Schmeiser, whose voice was raspy from a night of yelling from the circle and the dugout. Making softball enjoyable once more seemed a necessity for a Terps squad sitting at a crossroads. These were two winnable games before a ramped-up ACC schedule – and they knew it.

“We worked through a lot of the stresses and a lot of the worries,” coach Laura Watten said.

In last night’s opener, a 3-1 Terps victory, the Patriots hung with the hosts early. Each team plated a run in the third inning and remained scoreless until the sixth. The Terps (20-14) left runners on in the first three frames, continuing a trend that has plagued them in recent weeks.

The Patriots (10-26) nearly broke through in the fifth, when first baseman Reagan Doiron rocketed a Kendra Knight pitch to the center-field wall. A picture-perfect relay from shortstop Kathy McLaughlin cut down what would have been the go-ahead run.

Knight, after a treacherous first inning, settled down despite another outing high in walks. The senior hurler kept the Patriots at bay while the teams traded zeroes.

“It’s good to see [Knight] was able to work through some of the challenges she had been having,” Watten said.

The Terps’ clutch hitting finally came to life in the sixth, when Watten found the right button after sending Kelly Trimble in to pinch-hit. Her two-run home run, an opposite-field wall-scraper, gave the Terps a late 3-1 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“We knew we just needed something to get us to break through,” Watten said.

The Terps led Game 2 until the fourth inning, when the Patriots rallied for three two-out runs off Schmeiser. Again, the Terps found themselves at a point when they might have otherwise folded.

“We got used to losing,” Schmeiser said. “That’s not the place you want to be.”

Instead of lying down, the Terps’ response was a five-run explosion in the bottom half, capped by a bases-loaded single that the Patriots misplayed into three runs. The outburst iced the game, as Schmeiser held the Patriots in check to seal the 6-3 win and the sweep.

“[Losing] almost got to be this regular thing,” Schmeiser said. “We finally decided we were sick of it.”

The Patriots are not at the level of Georgia Tech, the Terps’ weekend opponent. Still, two wins against anyone will help to rebuild the Terps’ morale, which had taken some hits. As ACC play approaches, they’ll certainly take what they can get.

“We’ve got to get back to feeling confident again,” Watten said. “That’s what we needed tonight.”

benscher@umdbk.com