March 20, 2001

Box Score 1, Box Score 2

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A Washington Post All-Met selection and two-time high school state softball champion, it is a given that Terp freshman Jen Peel (St. Leonard, Md.) has had some big at bats during the course of her playing career. But her biggest thus far as a collegian came with Maryland's back to the wall in the Terrapins' second game against Drexel on Tuesday. After dropping the first contest to the Dragons, 1-0, the Terps found themselves down by a run in the bottom of the seventh of Game 2, when Peel stepped in and launched her first career home run to even the score. The stroke gave Maryland (17-12) the momentum it so desperately needed and enabled the Terps to take a 3-2 victory and split the afternoon doubleheader.

With an early Game 2 lead on Kiesha Pickeral's (Hughesville, Md.) scorching RBI-single in the first inning, Maryland's right-handed ace Amanda Bettker (St. Petersburg, Fla.) took command. Last week's ACC Pitcher of the Week threw a perfect first, second, fourth and fifth and worked diligently to get herself out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the third inning. Bettker was masterful, striking out nine total batters to tie her single-game best total of 2001.

Down 1-0, the Dragons got runners on second and third in the sixth after a single and a Terp error on a bunt play. Drexel's Alicia Good made the miscue costly, driving in a pair of unearned runs with a sharp single to left-center.

With the contest in danger of slipping away, the Terp rookie stepped in. Peel worked the count to 3-1 before crushing the delivery well over the centerfield fence, tying the game at 2-2. Senior Michelle Burrell (Owego, N.Y.) drew a walk next and was sacrificed to second by fellow upperclassman Annmarie Browne (Lansdale, Pa.). Senior Jennifer Potzman (Trexlertown, Pa.) then roped a single to left, and when the Dragons' outfielder had trouble collecting it, the speedy Burrell raced home the winning score.

Drexel and senior pitcher Lori Swanson took the victory in Game 1, as the Dragons outhit the Terps by a 7-3 margin. Maryland's Monica Cyphert (Warren, Ohio) had a solid outing and used a pair of strikeouts to get out of trouble in the sixth, but a Maryland error and a Rachel Levinson single in the fifth crossed the game's only run, unearned.

Peel finished the day 2-for-4 (.500) with a pair of walks and the home run. Pickeral also recorded two hits while Burrell scored twice.

Maryland next faces Towson in a single game, scheduled for Wednesday, March 21 at 1 p.m. The Terps downed the Tigers twice in this season's Terrapin Invitational, avenging a doubleheader sweep from the 2000 season.

Contact: Mark Fratto
301-314-7064 (phone)
301-314-9094 (fax)
301-314-TERP (Fan Phone)
fratto@wam.umd.edu