The Terrapins softball team hadn’t won consecutive games this season heading into its game against Nebraska on Saturday. But a 7-4 win on Friday night provided the Terps with a chance to do so.
After falling behind early, though, poor defense and a meager hitting performance cost the team in a 14-2 loss.
In addition, the aggressiveness the Terps showed on Friday was absent from their Saturday loss, coach Julie Wright said.
“We did not do what we did yesterday,” Wright said. “We did not come out with the same sort of attack at the plate.”
On Friday, the Terps had 11 hits to go along with their seven runs, but Saturday they were out-hit, 10-3.
Pitcher Brenna Nation, who closed out the Terps’ win Friday night with two innings in relief, started against the Cornhuskers on Saturday. She lasted 3.2 innings and gave up five runs (four earned).
The Terps leaned on the top half of their order for production. Leadoff hitter Sarah Calta went 2-for-3 and infielder Skylynne Ellazar notched a sacrifice fly and drew a walk. The No. 6-9 hitters in the lineup went 1-for-8.
Calta got the team on the board in the third inning after infielder Corey Schwartz had reached on an error and outfielder Kylie Datil doubled. She drove in Schwartz with a single to left field, and in the following at-bat, Ellazar knocked in Datil with a sacrifice fly to cut the Cornhuskers lead to 4-2.
That was the closest the Terps would get to the Cornhuskers, though, as their pitching and defense faltered in the later innings.
Nebraska added a run in the fourth to knock Nation out of the game. Her replacement, utility player Hannah Dewey, got two outs to start the fifth but then gave up a walk, two hits and another run.
Defensive mistakes put the game out of reach in the sixth. Sarah Lang bobbled a ball at first base and Ellazar let a sharp ground ball bounce off her leg. The Cornhuskers took advantage of the miscues to score eight times in the inning, including a grand slam off Ari Jarvis, who made her second appearance of the season.
Wright was disappointed with the team’s defense, which committed four errors after being error-free on Friday, because it put Dewey in a difficult situation in the pitching circle.
“Hannah Dewey comes in, rolls us ground balls, does what she’s supposed to do, and we failed her miserably on defense,” Wright said. “That’s not OK.”
Still, the Terps have a chance to earn a series win against the Cornhuskers tomorrow in a game that the coach called a “defining moment.” It would be their first series win of the season.
