Walking off the field at Robert E. Taylor Stadium after its mercy-rule beating of conference rival Virginia on Sunday, the Terrapins softball team seemed to show a confidence that had been missing for some time.
The Terps had just capped off a three-game sweep of the Cavaliers with an 8-0 win. The victories gave the team its first ACC victories of the season, brought it from last to fifth in the conference standings and ended a stretch where it lost nine of its past 11 games.
They’re just three games in a long season, but Laura Watten knows how quickly a few wins can turn into long-term success. The seventh-year coach hopes that theory holds true tonight when the Terps host Howard, a team that ranks as one of the worst in the nation.
A sweep of a midweek doubleheader might not seem like much, but the significance of turning three straight wins into five cannot be understated.
“It’s just another team to us,” Watten said. “We won’t be overlooking anybody.”
A loss to a team that once sat at 1-17 and currently stands at 5-24 would deal a crushing blow to the team’s NCAA Tournament hopes, which are on the rise after a key ACC sweep.
All three of those wins are directly attributable to Kendra Knight. The senior pitcher put some troubling command issues in the rearview mirror and stymied the Cavaliers all weekend. She allowed just one run over 17.1 innings pitched, taking the victory in every game in the series.
“We won’t treat them any differently,” Knight said. “We’ll be treating this like it’s an ACC game.”
They can’t take tonight’s games for granted, though. The Terps have struggled in games of similar rank this season, falling to a lowly Wright State squad, 8-0, on Feb. 18 and 11-3 to Big East bottom-dweller St. John’s one week later, ending a seven-game winning streak.
The pattern is clear: Without the bad losses, the Terps could be firmly entrenched in the NCAA Tournament field, rather than being perched precariously on the bubble.
The Terps can’t afford to forget recent history and let their latest winning streak go by the wayside when Howard comes to College Park tonight.
With the season winding down, victories can snowball into confidence.
“We’ll hit hard, pitch hard, just like always,” catcher Shannon Bustillos said. “We’re ready for them.”
benscher@umdbk.com
