Terps Stay Undefeated in Fall Season
9/28/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
COLLEGE PARK, MD - The Maryland softball team opened up a new era at the Maryland Softball Stadium on Saturday, defeating Towson and Hampton in a fall-ball doubleheader.
Game One:
Maryland's pitching duo of Kaitlyn Schmeiser and Brenna Nation dominated the Tiger lineup, allowing just one earned run and five hits to power Maryland to a 5-3 win over intrastate rival Towson.
The Terrapins jumped on top in the first inning. Madison Martin led off the game with a single before Juli Strange bunted her over. Shannon Bustillos drove Martin in with a RBI single to left to put the Terps up 1-0.
Three innings of one hit pitching by Schmeiser guided the Terrapins to the bottom of the third where they expanded their lead. Freshman Skylynne Ellazar led off the inning with her first hit at home and a Sarah Calta bunt single made it first-and-third with no outs.
Head coach Courtney Scott Deifel then called for a double steal, which Ellazar and Calta executed flawlessly to give Maryland a 2-0 lead. Junior Juli Strange would come up with a clutch RBI single to increase the Terps' advantage to 3-0 after three.
Towson got on the board in the fourth with a solo home run, but Maryland responded with two in the bottom half of the inning. A Mandy Gardner single and Bridget Hawvermale stolen base set up RBI opportunities for Corey Schwartz and Hannah Dewey, both of who came through. Schwartz slapped a single followed by Dewey's RBI double.
Nation entered the game with a 5-1 cushion and flashed some leather in the fifth, turning an unassisted double play to get out of the inning.
The Tigers found two runs in the seventh, but the Terps would hold on for a 5-3 victory.
Game Two:
Sarah Calta, Bridget Hawvermale and a strong combined pitching performance led the Terps to a 5-3 victory over Hampton
Maryland gained the lead for the second game in a row through Bustillos, who used a one-out single to drive in the Terps' first run of the afternoon.
Calta started the second off with a single to left and then stole second. Freshman catcher Emma Mires came up to the plate and made an impact, rocketing a liner to left that scored the speedy Calta.
Fellow freshman Destiney Henderson drew a walk and combined with Mires to convert Maryland's second double steal of the day to make it 3-0.
Hampton capitalized on some Terrapin defensive miscues and plated two runs in the third to make it 3-2.
Thanks to solid pitching by Madison Martin and Jaymi Bautista-Geiger, the score would remain 3-2 through four innings.
In the top of the fifth, Hawvermale crushed her first career home run to left field to give Maryland a 4-2 cushion. The Pirates matched with a run of their own in the bottom of the sixth to reduce the Maryland lead to one.
The Terrapins responded in the top of the seventh. Corey Schwartz continued her strong Saturday with a double to left and Calta drove her in with an RBI sac fly to push the score to 5-3
Hannah Dewey closed out the game in the bottom half of the seventh to Terps give their second victory of the day.
Maryland finishes its fall season next weekend with three contests. The Terps will take on George Mason at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 3 before a doubleheader against Georgetown (10 a.m.) and George Washington (12:30 p.m.) on Oct. 5.
