Drama has become a staple of the Terrapin softball team’s recent nonconference doubleheaders, with the team needing a walk-off hit to beat Binghamton last week and a strong pitching performance to eke out a 1-0 victory against Georgetown earlier this month.
For a while last night, though, it seemed as if the Terps (34-14) might skate through their doubleheader at Robert E. Taylor Stadium drama-free, especially after they coasted to an easy opening victory.
Then Delaware State made it interesting late — again. With one out in the seventh inning and the Terps ahead 3-1, the Hornets put runners on first and second, chasing starter Ashley Czechner. But Kerry Hickey came in and induced a double play to close out the game for the Terps, who swept the Hornets to equal 2010’s win total.
“You have to be able to finish, but really we just needed to give them a different look,” coach Laura Watten said. “It wasn’t about Czech not hitting her spots or not throwing well. She was still throwing well, I just feel like we need to change the tempo a little bit and get in the hitters’ heads.”
The Terps got out to a fast start in their opener, ending the game in five innings by run rule, 13-0. A seven-run second inning and a six-run third keyed the Terps to their second-highest run total of the season, and infielder Bree Hanafin’s grand slam beyond the center-field fence in the third punctuated the scoring.
“Once we start scoring and start feeling good, I think things start to happen,” Watten said after the blowout win. “Hitting is contagious. We were just making things happen — having good at-bats, drawing walks and putting the ball in play. That’s really what it was.”
Hickey built on her no-hitter against Florida State on Saturday, pitching five innings of two-hit ball and striking out 12 batters while allowing no walks.
After inclement weather forced a delay in action of more than an hour, the Terps picked up where they left off in their series-closing 3-1 win.
While the offensive output was not up to par with the first game, Czechner turned in yet another solid pitching performance against Delaware State (25-15), pitching 6.1 innings and allowing one run on six hits and striking out eight.
The Terps’ offense was opportunistic in the narrow win, getting an early 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout by Czechner after two singles and a sacrifice bunt. Later in the third, Hanafin extended an inning by reaching on an error, and infielder Marisha Branson made Delaware State pay with a two-run home run to center field to make the score 3-0.
“I was just trying to make adjustments from the first at-bat to the second one, just picking a better pitch to hit,” Branson said. “I guess that’s what we needed.”
Branson was also the only Terp to turn in multi-hit games, as she combined to go 4-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored. Outfielder Vangie Galindo, who entered the day as the ACC’s leader in batting average went 1-for-7, dropping her average to .421, but had two RBI and two runs scored.
And despite the return of some unwanted drama late last night, Watten said she ultimately saw it as a way to keep her team on its toes with a big ACC series at Virginia Tech looming this weekend.
“In hindsight, if we’d gone out there and hammered them again, maybe we’d go into the weekend a little overconfident,” Watten said. “It keeps perspective for us.”
dgallen@umdbk.com
