Terps Say Aloha to Rainbow Wahine Classic
3/15/2018 2:00:00 PM | Softball
March 16-18, 2018 || Rainbow Wahine Stadium
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Maryland will play in its final non-conference tournament of the 2018 season this weekend when the Terps play five games at the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic hosted by the University of Hawaii.
UMD will play five games at the tournament, twice matching up with No. 4 Tennessee, while also playing Cleveland State, North Dakota and host Hawaii.
storylines
• Senior Skylynne Ellazar will play in her home state for the first time in her collegiate career this weekend when the Terps open up play against Tennessee at the tournament on Friday. The Kahului, Hawaii native played her high school ball at Baldwin HS on the island of Maui, before committing to play nearly 5,000 miles away at Maryland. Ellazar has paced Maryland's offense as one of the team's top of the lineup hitters during her senior season, holding a team-best .333 average while notching two home runs and six RBIs.
• Ellazar wasted no time getting her 2018 season underway on February 9, launching a home run in her first at bat of the year against Cal Poly. It was Ellazar's first homer since her sophomore year, setting the table for an eight-hit weekend where she finished with .615 batting average and .737 OBP. Ellazar notched her second career four-hit game the following day against Cal Poly, hitting four singles to tie her career single-game high. She raked another homer the following weekend at the Tiger Invite, smashing a two-run bomb against Delaware for her second homer in five games.
• Freshman Ryan Denhart has made an immediate impact for the Terrapins in her first collegiate season, holding a team-best 1.98 ERA in 81.1 innings pitched. The Los Alamitos, Calif. native posted a career-high nine strikeouts in a complete game effort against Jacksonville on March 9 at the Maryland Invitational, finishing with a 1.31 ERA and 17 strikeouts on the weekend. It was the most strikeouts in a game from a Terp since Kaitlyn Schmeiser ('15) totaled 10 vs. Drexel on February 13, 2015.
• Denhart had a standout weekend at the Black & Red Classic, holding a 0.75 ERA through 18.2 innings while earning two wins and a save. She threw two complete games at the Tiger Invite, including a three-hit effort in 7.0 innings to help the Terps clinch a 4-1 win over Delaware on February 17.
• Sophomore Amanda Brashear turned in her best weekend of the season at the Black & Red Classic, finishing 8-for-16 (.500) from the plate while notching three RBIs and a run. Brashear delivered a walk off hit in Maryland's extra innings win over Eastern Illinois on March 3, slapping an infield single to push Maryland to a 3-2 victory.
• Sophomore Brigette Nordberg has gotten off to a hot start at the plate in her second collegiate season, ranking second on the team in batting average (.315) and first in slugging percentage (.466) through the first month of the year. The Exton, Pa. native has already surpassed her hits total from last season in 19 games this year, and has cemented herself as a top of the lineup hitter throughout non-conference play.
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