April 18, 2013

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Each week during the 2012-13 season a Maryland student-athlete, who has shown excellence on and off the playing field, will be selected as the Solomon Eye Associates Terp of the Week. This week's Solomon Eye Associates Terp of the Week is Candice Beards from the softball team.

Beards hit .600 with six doubles for the Terps' last week. Her offensive production helped them to their first series win over defending ACC champion Georgia Tech in over 12 years.

An early season concussion hasn't stopped junior Candice Beards from powering the Terps softball team into third place in the ACC. With two of Maryland's biggest bats out of the lineup, Beards hit .600 on the week to own a leading role in the team's late success.

In an early season game against Nebraska, Beards hit a triple that would stay with her longer than expected.

"It was in California and I hit a triple. I was running the bases and I got to third base and was running down into a slide so I would be safe. The ball just hit me in the head and my helmet popped off," Beards explained. "Then after that, I don't really know. I don't even remember what happened."

That incident sent Beards back to College Park, Md. with a concussion that would leave her stranded on the bench for the next few games.

In the meantime, she tweaked her batting stance. But as time went on, the changes weren't helping - they were hurting her offensive production. She went back to the stance that brought her to College Park as one of the Terps' biggest offensive threats.

"My coach has been talking a lot about confidence and that I need to have confidence in myself," Beards said. "So I think I've just been slowing the game down and I went back to the basics, to my regular stance and it seems to be working so I'm just going to stay there."

Now, she steps early and waits before slamming hits into the outfield either as the Terps' designated hitter or first baseman.

Her new stance helped the Terps pick up their first win since 2005 over Georgia Tech. With the win Sunday, Maryland won its first series over Georgia Tech since 2001. Against the Yellow Jackets, Beards went 4-9 with three of her four hits coming as doubles.

After the Georgia Tech win, Beards said, "We felt so good. That was probably the best we've felt this whole season. Just to go out and attack the team on their field just felt so good."

Last week, Beards also hit three doubles as she went 5-6 at George Mason with three RBI.

With the Terps missing their two of their biggest bats to injury, first baseman Mandy Gardner and left fielder Nikki Maier, Beards' performance has helped Maryland tremendously on offense.

"They are really big players that we're missing in the lineup," Beards said. "We're a good team and we have players that are stepping up and players who are being consistent."

As the team's confidence and consistency increases, the Terps continue to make fewer mistakes and win games.

"We have a mission to win the rest of the ACC series that we have the next couple weeks," she said.