Maryland softball entered Saturday’s doubleheader against Iowa mired in a seven-game losing streak, a skid largely driven by offensive struggles — issues that persisted against the Hawkeyes.
Only four Terrapin hitters carried batting averages above .300 entering the series, and the team’s collective average ranks among the bottom three in Big Ten play.
The slump hasn’t come from a lack of effort to spark change; head coach Lauren Karn has continued to shuffle the lineup, including pulling Caitlyn Cornwell — who had started 37 consecutive games — in an effort to find a spark.
None of the changes worked on Saturday, as the Terps put up just two hits in the first game, losing 6-1. The offense did not improve in game two, getting blanked 9-0.
“We’re not showing up to compete,” Karn said. “We need to make adjustments that we’re not willing to make.”
Karn has tried to generate an offensive shift by making constant lineup changes throughout the season. None of the batting orders have stuck – Maryland (15-24, 3-12 Big Ten) has seven hitters batting below .245 this season.
It’s led to another poor offensive showing this season. The Terps offense has ranked in the bottom half of the Big Ten in Karn’s two seasons – but the unit is hitting .18 points worse than last year’s group.
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The Terps’ hitting leader Bailey Murphy has also jumped around the lineup and Karn slotted into her fourth straight game in the No. 9 spot. Maryland hoped the junior could turn the lineup around at the last spot.
But the usually reliable left-handed hitter did not reach base on Saturday. Murphy grounded out twice in her at bats.
Karn also pulled Matti Benson from third base for Taylor Borovac and put Cornwell back in for the second game. But no move could muster a change for a struggling Terps lineup, whose 238 hits are third-worst in the Big Ten.
The coach noted her team needed to “keep swinging at strikes” to have a chance to beat Iowa. Maryland only struck out six times across the two games, but they proved costly. Its two best power hitters, Mazie MacFarlane and Sydney Lewis, each punched out once.
[Maryland softball’s pitching difficulties have triggered single-inning collapses]
While the offense cost Maryland, the pitching duo of Keira Bucher and Bri Godfrey didn’t strike out a single batter in game one as the rotation continued to struggle without a starter.
The Terps put in their top strikeout artist Julia Shearer in the second game to combat that. She struck out three batters in just the first inning, but not before giving up two runs.
Iowa’s (24-14, 6-6 Big Ten) offense dominated afterwards. The Hawkeyes put up 11 hits, including three from sophomore Echo Mattiello, and scored a combined 15 runs.
Maryland’s now dropped or split four straight Big Ten series, including four mercy-rule losses over that span. Its offense averaged just three runs per game in those losses and was shut out five times.
“I’m waiting for the team that started the season to show up to game day here late in the season for us,” Karn said.
