Maryland softball’s Julia Shearer walked two of the first three Saint Joseph’s batters she faced on Tuesday. Coach Lauren Karn walked to the circle to settle her No. 2 pitcher, hoping to avoid another walk-filled loss.
“[Karn] told me to just trust my spin and just let the defense work behind me,” Shearer said. “After that, I really locked in.”
The sophomore resetted beautifully, retiring the next two hitters to close out the inning. She followed this up with three straight strikes past the Hawks’ Jenna Currie to start the second frame, her first strikeout of a career high seven in the Terps’ 8-0 mercy rule win.
She pitched her third complete game of the season and her second straight complete-game shutout, a sign of consistency for a Maryland pitching staff that needs strong outings.
“When she’s on she’s really hard to hit,” Karn said. “In the last two outings she’s had she’s been on.”
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Shortly after Currie’s punch out, Shearer worked Saint Joseph’s Morgan Lester to a 1-2 count. She threw a changeup that dropped right under Lester’s bat for another strikeout to get the Terps out of the inning.
Shearer’s diverse pitch rotation makes her difficult for batters to face. Along with a consistent fastball, she has a changeup that rapidly drops just in front of the plate to leave hitters swinging at the dirt.
The pitch is completely new to Shearer’s arsenal this year. She and Karn worked hard in the offseason to create a changeup that would work with Shearer’s motion to disguise the dropoff from batters.
“I’m really excited about how well it’s been working so far,” Shearer said. “If they’re swinging over a lot of my pitches, I’ll throw a low changeup and get them off [their] time.”
The changeup accounted for three of Shearer’s strikeouts Tuesday night. She also boasts a fast curveball that she showed off a few times against the Hawks.
Karn, a former pitcher herself, noted she’d been working with Shearer on how to maximize the motion she gets with her pitches. Working on that movement and timing on the mound has helped vary her speed.
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“When you’re trying to get the bat path to her hard stuff and then the soft pitch comes in and it’s breaking on a different plane, it’s just really hard to hit that,” Karn said.
The practice came into play for Shearer when Saint Joseph’s eventually figured out her changeup in the fourth inning. The Hawks had two quick hits to get on first and second. Shearer then added back her natural speed, striking out back-to-back hitters who both swung visibly late at her pitches to thwart the scoring chance.
Shearer has thrown 29 ⅔ innings this season, second on the Terps behind junior Bri Godfrey’s 39 ⅓. — but Shearer’s showings have been inconsistent. She has pitched five or more innings in four of her nine appearances, but only two or fewer innings in her other four games. Despite her ups and downs, Shearer’s two shutouts this season are tied for third in the Big Ten.
While the outing against St. Joseph’s was her best performance so far this year, Shearer’s biggest win of the season came against No. 21 Cal. She threw all seven innings, allowing six hits in Maryland’s 6-3 upset win.
Settled into the season, Shearer has dropped her season ERA by more three points over the past two games — games that the Terps have won by a combined 16-0. Her continued improvement should aid the worst pitching staff in the Big Ten as the start of conference play looms near.
