COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland softball team exploded for 15 runs over the course of two games to sweep a doubleheader from Pitt, 8-0 and 7-6, Saturday on a beautiful day at the Maryland Softball Stadium.
Head coach Laura Watten captured her 600th career victory in the first game of the day. The Terps close out the season with a matinee tomorrow at 1 p.m. against the Panthers.
Game one: Maryland 8, Pitt 0
Junior Kaitlyn Schmeiser pitched a complete game shutout and senior Candice Beards hit a three-run home run to lead the Terrapins to a six-inning victory in game one. Freshman Kylie Datil finished 3-for-4 in the effort.
The Terrapins jumped on Pitt from the outset, as Shannon Bustillos drew a walk and Datil followed with a single to shortstop. Beards cleared the bases with a three-run opposite field shot over the left field fence to put Maryland ahead, 3-0.
After a pair of scoreless innings, Maryland opened the game wide open with a four-run fourth inning. Jessica Warner opened the frame with a single and Corey Schwartz reached on an error by the second baseman. Erin Pronobis then knocked in a run with a double to center field, followed by an Amanda McCann RBI single. Bustillos joined the party with a sacrifice RBI fly, before Datil slapped an RBI single up the middle to cap the scoring, 7-0.
The Terps put an end to the game in the sixth after Datil connected on her third hit with a double to the left center gap. Bridget Hawvermale came in to pinch-run for Datil, and eventually scored after the Pitt third baseman threw Juli Strange's hit past the stretching first baseman.
Despite allowing eight hits, Schmeiser repeatedly got out of critical jams to keep the Panthers at bay and secure the win.
Game two: Maryland 7, Pitt 6
Sophomore Madison Martin went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs and allowed just one earned in 4.2 innings of relief to lead Maryland to a 7-6 victory in game two. Pitt and Maryland exchanged leads four times throughout the wild back-and-forth affair.
The Panther bats came alive in the top of the first after a quite game one, as Tori Nirschl crushed a pitch to right center field to put Pitt ahead, 2-0.
Maryland answered right back, however, as Bustillos knocked her team-leading fifth home run of the season to draw the Terps even, 2-2. McCann then gave Maryland a 3-2 lead in the second after careening around the bases on a costly error by the Pitt pitcher.
After the Panthers took a 5-3 lead on a three-RBI single by Kaitlin Manuel, Maryland answered in the bottom of the third with a two-run knock by Warner to square the game, 5-5.
Pitt the loaded the bases in the sixth, but were limited to just one run as it captured a 6-5 advantage.
The Terrapins were up to the challenge presented by Pitt, tallying three hits and two runs in the bottom of the fifth to rally for the 7-6 lead. Schwartz knocked in one of the runs with a key single to right, while Pronobis delivered the go-ahead run with a single to center.
-Maryland-
