Terrapins softball coach Julie Wright has preached resilience all season. She tells her players to battle during each at-bat, even though the team entered Saturday with a 7-21 record and has missed key players for much of the year with injuries.
When they fell behind in the first inning against the Buckeyes on Saturday, a day after losing 12-2, the Terps didn’t give in. They took a one-run lead into the final frame, but Ohio State hit a two-run walk-off home run to hand the Terps a 4-3 loss.
Pitcher Madison Martin, who leads the team with a 2.53 ERA, has missed significant time recovering from reconstructive foot surgery. But she started against Ohio State in the pitching circle and made an impact.
Martin allowed a two-run home run in the first but settled down and threw five consecutive scoreless innings.
Her performance lifted the team, too. After each of her four strikeouts, catcher Kristina Dillard pumped her fist in celebration and her teammates greeted her with high-fives when she returned to the dugout.
In addition, Martin’s outing gave the Terps time to mount a comeback.
Infielder Corey Schwartz blasted a home run, her first of the year, in the fifth inning to cut the deficit to 2-1. Utility player Hannah Dewey then tied the game with an RBI single through the right side of the infield.
With two outs and no one on in the seventh, the Terps showed the fight that Wright has asked of them.
Infielder Skylynne Ellazar, who leads the team with a .380 average, finished a 12-pitch at-bat with an infield single. And outfielder Sarah Calta, who remained hot with a 3-for-4 game, smashed a full-count RBI triple to center field to give the Terps a 3-2 lead.
But the game ended in heartbreak for the Terps.
Martin, who had not allowed a hit since the first inning, walked a batter to lead off the seventh. Then, with one out, she left a pitch over the middle of the plate that Buckeyes infielder Maddy McIntyre blasted over the center field fence for a walk-off home run.
