Maryland softball’s offense swiftly recovered from its hitting woes in a mercy-rule loss to Penn State Friday. The Nittany Lions’ Mady Volpe held the Terps to just three hits in game one, but Maryland notched 20 runs and another 24 hits in the series’ second and third games combined.
But Maryland still couldn’t pull a single win, dropping its fourth straight Big Ten series. The Terps (17-28, 3-16 Big Ten) have finally hit their offensive stride, but their pitching rotation has dismantled in the process.
The Terps used every pitcher in their rotation throughout the weekend — including junior Genevieve Ebaugh, who entered the game with fewer than 10 innings this season after an early injury. Ebaugh stepped into the circle Sunday for the first time in more than a month, still sporting a brace on her left knee.
Maryland’s game three matchup appeared to be over before the Terps ever got up to bat. The Nittany Lions put up a combined seven runs against Ebaugh and freshman Aubrey Wurst in the first inning — just one run short of run-rule territory.
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“We’re not pitching well,” coach Lauren Karn said. “We haven’t pitched well all weekend.”
Maryland scored four in the bottom half of the first inning and continued to slowly climb back, putting up a run in four of the next six frames. But a three-run homer from Penn State — its second of the game — in the sixth killed any real comeback hopes.
“When you don’t control the game on the defensive side, whether it be pitching or playing defense, it’s really hard to just keep getting back into it,” Karn said.
Karn focuses on her players keeping their energy strong when they go down. The Terps embodied that on Friday as they loaded bases in the sixth, down eight runs. But a double play on graduate student Mazie MacFarlane ended the comeback attempt.
The play didn’t faze MacFarlane, as the hitter came back strong the rest of the series. She excelled in the second and third games with five total hits, including two home runs on Saturday.
“We’ve been working really hard at practice [on] just one pitch at a time … and then going from there,” MacFarlane said. “I think that takes a lot of the pressure off.”
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MacFarlane has also studied previous hitting opponents with her teammates, such as UCLA’s Megan Grant, to sharpen her power hitting in the season’s final games.
“[Grant] hits the crap out of the ball all the time,” MacFarlane said. “We were trying to do all of her things that she does.”
Maryland players stepped up across the lineup, especially in the bottom of the order. Eight of Maryland’s hits from the weekend came from batters in spots seven through nine, including six hits from Julia Shearer.
But how well the Terps swing the bat does not matter if their pitchers can’t throw to Big Ten batters. The rotation is averaging more than seven earned runs a game in conference play and ranks third in the Big Ten for walks.
The weakness was especially exposed Sunday, when Maryland awarded Penn State 16 free passes. Two of the Nittany Lions’ 12 runs were walked home and another two advanced on wild pitches.
The remaining eight were all scored off home runs. Penn State only had four hits in the matchup.
Each pitcher allowed at least four earned runs in the weekend series. The Terps are tied for last in the Big Ten standings with little hope of making the conference tournament as Karn continues to shuffle the mix in the circle, looking for any sign of consistency.
“We know each weekend, we’re probably gonna have to throw as many of our pitchers as we can to stretch out wins right now, and so we’re just trying to find that good combo again,” Karn said.
