Entering Maryland softball’s doubleheader Friday in the Stetson Invitational, pitcher Sami Main had racked up just 11 strikeouts through 25 ⅔ innings this season.
But in her start in the Terps’ nightcap against Stetson, Main was sitting down Hatters batters early and often.
Though Stetson capitalized off a walk from the senior in the bottom of the second inning to go up 1-0, Main was dealing through four innings, quickly earning a new season high with five strikeouts.
The Terps took the lead with two runs in the fifth inning, but Stetson answered in the bottom half to tie the game, 2-2. The score would stay locked through seven innings, forcing the game into an extra innings.
Maryland took a 5-2 lead in the top of the eighth with an RBI single from third baseman Anna Kufta, but in the end the Hatters got walked off the Terps to steal the win, 6-5. Maryland lost to Fairfield earlier Friday by the same score to go 0-2 on the first day of the Stetson Invitational.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth against Stetson, it appeared the Terps were primed for a win with a three-run lead. But a Maryland error, a problem that has plagued the team early in the season, gave the Hatters life, and they capitalized to edge the Terps.
Main struck out a career-high eight batters, but in the end, Maryland couldn’t hold onto the three-run lead.
Against Fairfield, Maryland’s hitters came out strong to put the squad up 4-0 in the bottom of the first, as right fielder Amanda Brashear, who got her 100th-career hit last weekend against North Carolina, got the first hit of the day for the Terps.
Catcher Gracie Voulgaris hit a single up the middle to move Brashear to third base, and shortstop Bailey Boyd cleaned up the job with a two-RBI single up the middle. Boyd, whose .352 batting average entering Friday was the team’s second-best behind infielder Taylor Okada, scored just two plays later as infielder Sammie Stefan singled her home.
Stefan then put another on the board before the end of the inning, capitalizing off a single from infielder Taylor Wilson.
The Stags kept the game close, though, and scored three runs in the third inning before the Terps’ defense snagged two quick outs to end the half inning.
Fairfield continued their comeback trail in the fifth inning, taking a 5-4 lead when pitcher Sydney Golden surrendered a two-RBI double to Kaitlin Hoffman.
Kufta’s solo homer in the bottom of the fifth, her fourth homer of the season, tied the score back up and the score stayed locked until the final inning.
But just like what would happen later that night, the Terps fell victim to a game-winning run in the final inning of the game.
