Maryland Heads West For Tournament
2/19/2013 7:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 19, 2013
The Maryland softball team will head west to Palm Springs, Calif. to compete against three ranked teams in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. They will take on No. 8 Missouri, No. 9 California, No. 19 UCLA, Oregon State and Nebraska Thursday-Saturday.
Four of the Terps' opponents this weekend competed in last year's NCAA Regionals. Missouri went to the Super Regionals and California went all the way to the national semifinal game vs. Alabama in the Women's College World Series.
Live stats will be available for some of the Terrapins' games this weekend. Available links are below. Follow https://twitter.com/#!/TerpsSoftball for live updates throughout the weekend.
Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Info
• Fans can find the Terps' schedule for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Spirngs, Calif., at http://palmspringssoftballclassic.com/. All times below are eastern.
| Maryland's Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Schedule | |||
| Feb. 21 | 4 p.m. | vs. #8 Missouri | |
| Feb. 21 | 11:30 p.m. | vs. Oregon State | GameTracker |
| Feb. 22 | 11:30 p.m. | vs. Nebraska | Live Stats |
| Feb. 23 | 3 p.m. | vs. #19 UCLA | GameTracker |
| Feb. 23 | 5:30 p.m. | vs. #9 California | |
Scouting The Terps
• Maryland opens play in the 2013 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Thursday with a 4 p.m. ET game vs. No. 8 Missouri.
• The Terrapins are coming off of a 34-22 season, in which they earned their third straight NCAA Regionals bid.
| 2013 Maryland Terrapins: 3-1, 0-0 ACC | |||
| Roster | Schedule | Statistics | |
• Maryland returns four seniors this year in Sara Acosta, Lexi Carroll, Nikki Maier and Melissa Mancuso.
• The Terrapins have youth and plenty of it this year. They plan to use their talented, young players to their advantage. With seven newcomers, the Terrapins will learn quickly.
• Head Coach Laura Watten returns eight starters and 11 letterwinners from last year's NCAA Regionals squad.
Scouting #8 Missouri
• Missouri is 5-0 on the year after winning all five of its games last weekend in UCSB's Tournament. The Tigers went 47-14 in 2012 and went to the NCAA Super Regionals.
• Maryland is 1-1 all-time vs. Missouri. In their most recent meeting, the Terps won 3-2 in 2005 in the Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
| 2013 #8/7 Missouri (5-0, 0-0 SEC) | ||
| Roster | Schedule | |
Scouting Oregon State
• Oregon State is 8-3 on the year and has won six straight. The Beavers won all five of their games in the Easton Desert Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. last weekend. In 2012, Oregon State went 36-23 overall and went to NCAA Regionals.
• This is the first meeting for the Terps and the Beavers.
| 2013 Oregon State Beavers (8-3, 0-0 Pac 12) | ||
| Roster | Schedule | Statistics |
Scouting Nebraska
• Nebraska is 9-1 so far this season. The Huskers went 4-1 last weekend in the Hillenbrand Inviational in Tucson, Ariz. Their only loss was a 1-0 match to No. 16 Arizona. Nebraska went 33-22 in 2012.
• Maryland is 0-2 vs. the Huskers. Most recently, the Terps fell 6-4 to then-No. 16 Nebraska in the 2011 USF Tournament in Clearwater, Fla.
| 2013 Nebraska Huskers (9-1, 0-0 Big Ten) | ||
| Roster | Schedule | Statistics |
Scouting #19 UCLA
• UCLA is 8-1 on the season, with its only loss coming to No. 17 Texas A&M. The Bruins went to the NCAA Regionals last year and went 47-15 overall.
• Maryland is 0-4 all-time vs. UCLA. Most recently, the Terrapins fell 0-5 to the Bruins in this same tournament in 2009.
| 2013 #19/18 UCLA Bruins (8-1, 0-0 Pac 12) | ||
| Roster | Schedule | Statistics |
Scouting #9 California
• California is 7-2 on the season. The Golden Bears went 58-7 last year and went all the way to the national semifinal game in the Women's College World Series, before falling to Alabama.
• Maryland is 0-2 all-time vs. California. The Terps lost 7-0 to the Golden Bears in this same tournament in 2009.
| 2013 #9/8 California Golden Bears (7-2, 0-0 Pac 12) | ||
| Roster | Schedule | Statistics |
Play the Best
The Terrapins will play a strong schedule against a number of the nation's top teams.
• The Terps will play seven games against teams in the preseason USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches Top 25.
• The Terps will battle 16 teams that competed in last year's NCAA championships. So far, they are 3-1 against those teams.
Head Coach
Laura Watten
Laura Watten returns for her seventh season at the helm of the up-and-coming Terrapin softballa program. Her current career record is 563-375 (.600) and her record at Maryland is 241-168 (.589). Below is a breakdown of just a few of her career highlights:
- Collegiate Record (16 years): 563-375 (.600)
- Record at Maryland (8 years): 241-168 (.589)
- Led the Terrapins to three straight NCAA Regionals appearances for the first time in school history
- Earned first postseason appearance since 1999
- 14 NFCA All-Region honorees
- Coach of 2007 Easton and NFCA All-American
- 15 All-ACC selections, including seven first team
- Three All-ACC Tournament Team selections
- Coached 2011 ACC Pitcher of the Year Kerry Hickey
- Three ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District team members
- 17 All-ACC Academic Team members
- Four-time MEAC Coach of the Year (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005)
- 2005 NCAA South Regional Champion (led at-large team Bethune-Cookman to Super Regionals)
- 2005 Super Regional Appearance
- 2005 NFCA Southeast Region Coach of the Year
Watten Adds Two to Staff
Watten hired Terrapin alum Jillian Callaway and Shannon Riley this summer.
• Callaway was an assistant coach for the Terrapins from 2004-06 after graduating. As a player from 1999-03, she was a standout infielder and finished her career on Maryland's all-time top-10 list for games played (195) and started (189), hits (128), and RBI (63). She owns and operates 5 Star Athletics, a program she founded to promote softball and instruct the top young players in the area. She has worked with current Maryland players Kaitlyn Schmeiser and Lindsey Schmeiser, Kelly Trimble and Bridget Hawvermale through her program.
• Riley, the director of operations, has worked with Callaway as the director of operations for 5 Star Athletics, managing business operations, organizing camps and clinics, and working with local programs and universities to promote softball. Riley played second base and was a slapper on the Mount St. Mary's softball team.
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Media Information
• Email Straight To You: If you would like the latest Maryland softball news emailed directly to you as soon as it breaks, email softball contact Rose DiPaula with "Softball E-Mail" as the subject and you will receive every update.
• Terps on the Web: For up-to-date game stories, statistics, schedules and results, and other Maryland athletic department information, please log-on to www.umterps.com on the Internet.
• GameTracker: Follow Terps games live in 2013 on your computer with GameTracker. Links for all games that will be available can be found at www.umterps.com.
