Terps Open Up Home Slate With Maryland Invitational

COLLEGE PARK, Md.-The Maryland softball team (7-17) is set to open up their 18 game 2016 home slate with the Maryland Invitational this weekend.

Playing at the Maryland Softball Stadium for the first time in 2016, the Terps will play Massachusetts at 4:30 p.m. and North Dakota State at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday, Maryland will host a primetime doubleheader beginning at 6:00 p.m. against Boston and Ball State. Maryland will wrap up its home tournament with a single bout against Binghamton on Sunday at 3:45 p.m.

This Weekend On The Diamond

The Maryland Invitational will feature six teams and fourteen games over three days. A full Maryland Invitational schedule is attached on the sidebar. Ball State and Massacusetts will kick off the 2016 Maryland Invitational on Friday afternoon at 12:00. Maryland and Binghamton will wrap it up on Sunday at 3:45. The other teams participating are North Dakota State and Boston.

Admission is free for all of this weekend's contests.

Live stats for each game are available here: Live Stats. Be sure to follow @TerpsSoftball on Twitter all weekend for live in-game updates and behind the scenes content from College Park.

Fri, Mar 18 Massachusetts 4:30 p.m. Live Stats

Fri, Mar 18 North Dakota State 6:45 p.m. Live Stats

Sat, Mar 19 Boston 6:00 p.m. Live Stats

Sat, Mar 19 Ball State 8:15 p.m. Live Stats

Sun, Mar 20 Binghamton 3:45 p.m. Live Stats

last time out

Maryland posted a 1-4 record at the Oklahoma Invitational last weekend. The Terrapins dropped two games to host, No. 13 Oklahoma, and one a piece to St. Louis and BYU. The second time they played, Maryland got the best of the Billikens, winning 8-0 (5).
The Terrapins had their most complete game of the year against Saint Louis last Saturday. Brenna Nation threw her first career no-hitter and Emily Libero and Kristina Dillard smacked home runs to lead Maryland to their first run-rule victory of the srason.
On the weekend, Hannah Dewey and Skylynne Ellazar led the Terps from the plate both batting .500 on the weekend. Dewey slugged an incredible 1.000%, hitting one of each a double, triple, and homer. Ellazar led the Terps with seven hits, and crushed two doubles. Sarah Calta also had an impressive weekend, going 5-11 (.455) from the plate including a triple against No. 13 Oklahoma.
Maryland has three batters batting over .350 through 24 games. The threesome of Skylynne Ellazar (.383), Hannah Dewey (.377), and Kristina Dillard (.368) have been a force from the dish all year. Dewey leads in both on base percentage (.470) and slugging percentage (.594).
Lindsey Schmeiser has had quite an early season. The senior stud, broke the program record for most homeruns all-time with a sixth inning blast against #5 Alabama two weeks ago. Because of the record breaker, Schmeiser was named Terp of the Week. In addition, Schmeiser is one of 30 seniors nationwide to be named a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award.

Nation no-no

Pitcher Brenna Nation threw the first Maryland no-hitter in three years last Saturday against Saint Louis.
After walking two batters in the first inning, Nation didn't allow another Saint Louis batter to reach base forcing groundout after groundout.
This marked Nation's first career no-no.

Scouting massachusetts

The U-Mass Minutemen enter this weekends Maryland Invitational with an overall record of 5-13. The Minutemen went 1-4 down in Boca Raton last weekend.
Massachusetts posted a 15-28 record a year ago with an 8-14 Atlantic 10 Record. The Minutemen are the third A-10 team Maryland will play this year after playing George Washington and Saint Louis the past two weekends.
Kristi Stefanoni enters her second full season as the head coach in Amherst. Stefanoni is no stranger to Massachusetts however as she starred as a player for the Minutemen from 2003-2006 and then worked her way up to Director of Operations, Assistant Coach, and now Head Coach. In her eight seasons on the coaching staff, the Minutemen have accumulated a 343-158-4 record.
U-Mass has been picked to finish seventh in the 2016 Atlantic 10 Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Maryland is 2-4 all time against the Minutemen. The last meeting between the two game in 2013 ended in a run-rule 16-8 win for Maryland down in Boca Raton. Current Terps Juli Strange and Corey Schwartz went a combined 4-7 with five runs and three RBIs in that game.

ScOUTING North Dakota State

North Dakota State has put together an impressive start to their 2016 season, going 14-11 with wins over Arkansas, North Carolina, Stanford, #2 Alabama, and California.
The Bison are coming off a stellar 2015 season where they went 45-11 and won the Summit League. NDSU finished as the runner up in the Eugene Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
Darrin Mueller and Jamie Trachsel are co head coaches of the Bison softball program. Mueller is in his fifteenth season, Trachsel her sixth. The two have brought the Bison to the NCAA Tournament six of the last seven seasons.
North Dakota State has been picked to win the Summit League in the 2016 Preseason Coaches' Poll.
This is the first all-time meeting between the Terrapins and the Bison.

ScOUTING Boston

Boston enters this weekends Maryland Invitational at 9-11. The Terriers are coming off a 10-2 run rule win over Providence on Wednesday.
Last year, the Terriers posted a 17-27 record. However, the year before Boston was 36-21 which was good enough to win the Patriot League. The Patriot League program, won a NCAA Tournament game as well, against Louisville.
Head coach Ashley Waters is in her inaugral season at the helm of the Boston Softball program. Waters comes Harvard where she was in charge of the Crimson offense and infield.
The Terriers were picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League in the 2016 Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Maryland holds a 4-1 all time record against Boston University. The Terrapins and Terriers faced off three weeks ago in Boca Raton with Maryland winning the game 3-2. Full recap from that game can be found here: Maryland 3, Boston 2

ScOUTING Ball State

Ball State has played 26 games thus far in 2016, posting a 12-14 record. The Cardinals went 2-2 last weekend in Jacksonville.
The Cardinals are coming off of a 34-25 2015 season where they won the Mid American Conference. Ball State advanced to the South Bend Regional where they won the opener against Notre Dame before falling in the next two.
Megan Bartlett enters her first season as head coach of the Cardinals. Bartlett comes from the Big Ten. She spend the 2015 season as an assistant coach for Purdue.
Ball State has been picked to finish second in the MAC West in the 2016 Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Maryland won the only all-time meeting between the Terps and the Cardinals back in 2004.

SCOUTING BINGHAMTON

Binghamton stands even in the 2016 season, posting a 7-7 record through 14 games. Last weekend, the Bearcats went 2-3 in Florida.
Last season, Binghamton went 24-21 and won the America East Tournament. The Bearcats advanced to the Harrisonburg Regional where they dropped two contests.
Head coach Michelle Burrell is in her seventh season as head coach of the Binghamton softball program. She holds a 152-141 all time record. Burrell played at Maryland, starting 239 career games in her time as a Terrapin. She is one of the best all-time Maryland softball players, still being ranked in the top ten in most statistical categories;
Binghamton has been picked to win the American East for the second year in a row.
Maryland has never lost to the Bearcats, posting a 4-0 all-time record. The two last met in 2013 at the last Maryland Invitational. The Terrapins used a Mandy Gardner walk-off single to come back and win 10-9.

TV TERPS

Last week, Maryland announced their 2016 television schedule.
The Terrapins will play their most games on national television in program history, appearing on the Big Ten Network a minmum of four times and on Fox Sports this weekend.
The conference opener against Ohio State (3/25), both games of midweek doubleheader against Rutgers (4/20), and the series opener against No. 2 Michigan (4/22) will be broadcasted live on BTN.
In addition, at least 16 games will be streamed live on your computer, tablet, or phone via BTN Plus.
The entire Big Ten Tournament will air on BTN. Penn State will host the Big Ten Tournament from March 12-14.

looking ahead

This weekend marks the last non-conference tournament of 2016. Next weekend, Maryland opens up Big Ten play against Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. The team's full schedule can be found here.

event multimedia

Live stats for all games can be found here. Also follow @TerpsSoftball all weekend for live updates and behind-the-scenes content of the Terps trip to the District.

-Maryland-

Players Mentioned

Sarah Calta

Hannah Dewey

Kristina Dillard

Skylynne Ellazar

Mandy Gardner

Emily Libero

Brenna Nation

Lindsey Schmeiser

Corey Schwartz

Juli Strange

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