Ohio State opened a 6-0 lead over the Maryland softball team after a five-run third inning, marking another example of a lapse in one frame pushing the game out of the Terps’ control. So, Maryland fell, 6-2, in its Big Ten opener.
“You have to prevent that one play that kind of sparks it,” infielder Juli Strange said. “Sometimes the wheels feel like they fall off a little bit, but if you keep them screwed on tight, then you avoid that whole situation.”
In the third inning, Anna Kufta’s error at shortstop started the skid. After a single, a hard grounder ricocheted off the freshman’s shin, bouncing into right center field. Buckeyes infielder Anna Kirk scored from first, and infielder Lilli Piper reached third. After an RBI single and double, Ohio State outfielder Taylor White hit a three-run homer.
Pitcher Madison Martin gave up only two earned runs in her sixth loss of the season. The redshirt senior was coming off a one-hit shutout Monday in Maryland’s 3-0 win over St. John’s but allowed nine hits against the Buckeyes on Friday.
After Ohio State’s third-inning burst, Martin surrendered three hits over four scoreless frames. She also threw six strikeouts.
“Today, we just had one bad inning,” coach Julie Wright said. “You take that away, and [Martin] threw a doozy. I thought she got better as the game went on.”
Strange, meanwhile, hit her first home run of the year in the bottom of that frame to narrow the deficit. The two-out liner was the Terps’ first hit of the game. Despite moving into the leadoff role, Strange said her approach at the plate hasn’t changed.
“When she took that role, I said ‘Don’t change anything that you’re doing,’ because she was starting to heat it up,” Wright said. “I just like her up there because she’s got power, she can run, she handles the bat pretty well. So, I like the element it starts us off with.”
If the bases are empty, Strange focuses on starting an inning, even with two outs.
“I need to get on base, and I need to pass the bat off to the next person behind me,” Strange said.
Maryland struggled to string hits together, though, ending with four to counter five strikeouts. The Terps stranded six runners, including two in scoring position. Wright wants her hitters to have a “little bit of swag,” with runners on, but she felt the team lacked that against the Buckeyes.
After Strange’s homer, outfielder Amanda Brashear knocked an infielder single, but Kufta flied out to end it. Catcher Kristina Dillard led off the fourth inning with a double, but two strikeouts and a groundout stranded her at third.
In the sixth, the Terps added another run when Kufta reached third base on an error. Dillard drove her home with a sacrifice fly. Infielder Skylynne Ellazar singled and designated player Hannah Dewey followed with a walk, but pinch hitter Kassidy Cross flew out and infielder Jordan Aughinbaugh struck out to end the threat.
“Hitters get themselves out. Pitchers don’t get them out,” Wright said. “In those two at bats, those hitters went after pitches that they shouldn’t have been going after, and they get themselves out in those scenarios. They could’ve had just a better at bat should they just chosen a different pitch or was a little bit more patient.”
