At the start of its weekend series with Virginia on Saturday, the Terrapins softball team was in desperate need of a spark. With one month left in the season, the Terps were in dead-last in the ACC.
Enter Kendra Knight.
The team rode the senior pitcher’s arm all the way to a three-game sweep of the Cavaliers, its first conference victories this season. Knight was the winner in each of those games, pitching 17.1 sterling innings during which she allowed just eight hits and one earned run.
“Kendra just did Kendra today,” catcher Shannon Bustillos said.
Knight (16-10) tossed two complete games and threw 5.1 innings in relief of an ineffective Kaitlyn Schmeiser in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
“I just got back to what I know,” Knight said.
She had struggled with her command in recent outings, but it was a thing of the past this weekend. Knight struck out the first six batters she faced in the opener Saturday and finished with 13, helping lead the Terps to a 3-1 victory.
She was back in the circle an hour later, taking on a 5-0 deficit she inherited from Schmeiser.
As Knight held Virginia (20-21, 5-10 ACC) at bay, the offense went to work in the fourth inning. A barrage of singles put the Terps up 6-5 and, despite a tense seventh inning, Knight made it hold up.
She was untouchable yesterday, holding the Cavaliers to one hit before the 8-0 rout was called after five innings.
The other half of the pitcher-catcher battery was on display, too. Bustillos hit two home runs on the weekend, including a three-run bomb yesterday that put the game out of reach. The freshman, who has already been honored as the ACC Player of the Week once this season, has been a steady contributor for the Terps (23-17, 3-6) all year.
“I haven’t done very much different,” Bustillos said. “I’ve just been wo rking so hard.”
Against Virginia, she keyed an offense that has struggled at times in recent contests. In last weekend’s sweep at Georgia Tech, the Terps scored just seven runs in three games.
Those losses left the Terps below even Boston College for last in the ACC. But with three victories over a league foe that already had five ACC wins, the weekend sweep shaped up as an important one for coach Laura Watten’s Terps.
“It definitely helps the confidence,” Watten said. “It’s always big to win conference games.”
The Terps next take on Howard in a midweek clash on Wednesday before heading to N.C. State next weekend. And now that the Terps have improved their ACC standing, they have a chance to establish some momentum heading into the season’s final month.
If they do, it will come courtesy of what they hope is more dominance from Knight. The Terps will ride her right arm as far as it can take them.
“I’m not even tired,” Knight said. “I could go out there again.”
benscher@umdbk.com
