The Terrapins softball team has traveled to five cities, squared off with 20 different teams in 23 games and earned 14 wins.
After more than a month of early-season tournaments away from College Park, the Terps will return home to play a doubleheader against Lafayette at the Maryland Softball Stadium on Sunday. The team will then host Princeton on Monday and play a doubleheader against St. Francis on Tuesday.
The start of the home slate gives the Terps a chance to get back on their normal schedules.
“You get to sleep in your own bed; you get to be at home; you get to play in front of all your friends and family,” pitcher Kaitlyn Schmeiser said.
Coach Courtney Scott Deifel, meanwhile, is preparing for her first home games at the helm of the program.
“It’s going to be great to be able to play on our home field this weekend,” Scott Deifel wrote in an email. “We’ve worked very hard during these first couple of weeks. Our early-season schedule really tested us, but it’s nice to be able to come home and compete on our home field and in front of our home crowd.”
The Red Flash (8-4) has the most impressive record among the Terps’ opponents this coming week, while the Leopards are winless through nine games and the Tigers are 3-6.
Despite the underwhelming records, the Terps hope to avoid overlooking their competition. They won 11 games all of last season, so the returning players know the value of victories.
“There are definitely teams that you can’t take lightly,” Schmeiser said. “We’re also a very good team, and we have the confidence to beat whoever we play.”
The team might have the confidence, but Scott Deifel knows it’ll take more than that to keep up their winning ways.
“This weekend we are looking to put it all together and really just continue to give a complete-game effort,” she wrote. “We’re playing some good competition, and it’s important for us to come out strong and get on the board early.”
