Before the Mardi Gras Classic, Maryland softball coach Julie Wright highlighted three keys to establish consistency.
The Terps defeated No. 1 Florida on Feb. 18, but “keeping it going means everything,” Wright said. She admitted Maryland needed to plate more runners, the pitchers needed to keep an ERA under three and the defense needed to play cleaner softball.
But Maryland struggled in the Classic this weekend, falling to 2-11-1 after one win, a tie and three losses in the five-game tournament.
Here’s how the Terps fared in the three areas Wright highlighted.
The Pitching
Maryland’s pitching staff came closest to meeting Wright’s expectations. The staff limited opponents to an average of three runs per game in the series.
Pitchers Hannah Dewey and Madison Martin led off the series with complete games. Dewey threw 114 pitches in the opening 3-0 loss to Drake and Martin threw a one-hit shutout in the win over Bowling Green to fill the void.
Martin’s one-hitter, with two strikeouts and two walks, exemplified the way the Edmond, Oklahoma, native feels she can work through games without overpowering batters.
“Her off-speed stuff is so nasty, and it wiggles,” Wright said. “It was really holding those hitters at bay.”
Before the game, Martin stressed the importance of pitching to her defense. The off-speed pitches help induce groundball outs, and she forced 13 of them in the 3-0 win.
“You start to reach a little bit as a hitter, and get a little anxious, and you don’t stay through the ball with your top hand,” Wright said.
Martin didn’t give up a hit after the second inning and she retired the last 14 batters of the afternoon. For Wright, it was “a lot of fun to watch her get into that groove.”
Later in the series, Wright’s pitch-by-rotation concept showed. Against No. 16 Louisiana-Lafayette and Dartmouth, the Terps employed four different pitchers in the game. Limiting the number of times a pitcher faces a lineup helps keep batters off balance, Wright said.
The Batting
Maryland is fifth in the Big Ten in hits, but 12th in runs scored. At times in the series, however, production at the plate proved difficult, too. The Terps met strong opposition pitching against Drake and Louisiana-Lafayette, suffering two shutouts.
Against Drake, Maryland struck out 15 times, 12 of which came versus NCAA strikeout leader Nicole Newman. Juli Strange was the only Maryland infielder to not strike out against the Bulldogs.
On Saturday, Maryland managed only three hits against Louisiana-Lafayette. Reigning USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Week Alyssa Denham didn’t walk a batter in her 64-pitch complete game shutout.
But in other games, the Terps clicked in the batter’s box. Against Bowling Green, the Terps jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning off four hits. That was what Maryland needed with Martin dealing, but the Terps missed opportunities to extend their lead. Twice Maryland loaded the bases, but with two outs both times, the team couldn’t capitalize. The Terps stranded 13 baserunners in the game.
Against Dartmouth in the final game of the weekend, Maryland opened a 5-2 lead after three innings. Strange and Dewey recorded RBI doubles in the first and second innings.
But the Terps did not register a hit past the second frame as Dartmouth worked back to earn a tie.
Strange emerged as a key part of the offense, moving up the lineup to hit third against Dartmouth. The redshirt senior had three hits through her first eight games but had eight hits in the five games this weekend.
The Fielding
Maryland has a Big Ten-worst 25 errors through its first 14 games. Strong defense backed up Martin in her one-hitter, but five lapses against Bradley in a 4-2 defeat on Saturday ballooned the weekend error count to eight. Still, the Terps only gave up one unearned run against the Braves.
