Maryland Softball Set For Weekend Series Vs. Illinois

Illinois (13-19) (0-5 B1G) at Maryland (16-17) (3-3 B1G)

April 5-7, 2024

Maryland Softball Stadium

6:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 12:00 PM

COLLEGE PARK, MD - The University of Maryland softball team will host the Illinois Fighting Illini for a weekend series in College Park, MD. The Terps are set to compete against The Fighting Illini in a three game series. The action kicks off Friday, April 5 with the first game starting at 6:00 p.m. Saturday's game begins at 2:00 p.m., while the series concludes on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 12:00 p.m. All three games between Maryland and Illinois will be scheduled to be live streamed via BTN+ and live stats will be available for all three games.

Series Preview

Maryland is coming off a 1-2 series at Penn State this past weekend. Maryland defeated No. 22 Penn State 2-0 in nine innings in game one of the series. Maryland dropped the last two games of the series.
Courtney Wyche had a dominate performance on the mound in Happy Valley. On Friday, she struck out a career-high 19 batters. Wyche set the NCAA individual game-high for strikeouts in 2024.
In the circle, Maryland has been led by Courtney Wyche who leads the Big Ten in strikeouts with 136 and is first in the conference with opposing batters average with a .159. At the plate, Diamond Williams has provided instant offense for the Terps. She ranks third in the Big Ten in HRs with 11 only three behind first place. With a .699 slugging percentage Williams is ranked sixth in the Big Ten. Williams is currently hitting .373 with runners in scoring position. Williams is currently sixth in the Big Ten in RBIs with 31.
As a team the Terps rank second in the conference with triples. Jaeda McFarland is currently first in the conference with triples and ranks second in the country.
Illinois Fighting Illini is currently 13-19. Illinois is heading to College Park after starting 0-5 in conference play.
As a team, Illinois has a team batting average of .315 which ranks 35^th in the country and first in the conference. Paige Berkmeyer leads the team in batting average (.364) and RBIs (30). Kelly Ryono has the most hits on the team and ranks sixth in the conference with 41.
Maryland is currently 6-10 all-time against Illinois. Maryland would sweep Illinois in their last series meeting in 2023 in Champaign, Illinois.

Maryland has four batters that are hitting above .300 this season.

last weekend's recap

Maryland would earn their second top-25 win of the season after defeating No. 22 Penn State 2-0 in nine innings in the first game of the series on Friday. The win would be the Terps fourth win in a row.
Courtney Wyche struck out a career-high 19 batters in Maryland softball's 2-0 upset win over No. 22 Penn State in nine innings at Nittany Lion Softball Park on Friday. Wyche broke the NCAA individual game-high for strikeouts in 2024. She passed Stanford's NiJaree Canady, who struck out 18 batters against Georgia on March 3. It was also the most by a Big Ten player since Sydney Sickels struck out 21 batters for Illinois on Feb. 11, 2023.
Neither team scored until Jaeda McFarland belted a double to left center to drive in the game-winning runs in the top of the ninth inning. She finished with two hits in the game. Megan Mikami notched a career high four hits. She added a stolen base and a run.
Maryland softball was defeated by No. 22 Penn State, 9-6, in game two of its series at Nittany Lion Softball Park on Saturday. Diamond Williams got the Terps on the board first with her two-run homer in the top of the first. It was her team-leading 11th home run of the season. She is tied for sixth on the Maryland single-season leaderboard. Jaeda McFarland followed with a three-run shot in the second inning, her third of the season, to increase the lead to 5-0. The Nittany Lions added five runs in the third inning with an RBI single and two two-run home runs. They took the lead 6-5.
Maryland was defeated by Penn State, 1-0, in 12 innings of a rubber match at Nittany Lion Softball Park on Easter Sunday. The game was the second longest in program history. Maryland's longest game spanned 14 innings in a 4-2 loss against Florida State on March 31, 2007.

Maryland currently ranks second in the conference in triples per game.

transfer spotlight

Coastal Carolina transfer Diamond Williams continues to make her impact on this Maryland team. Diamond has started in all 33 games at first base.
Williams currently leads the team in batting average (.354), RBI's (31), hits (40), and HRs (11).
Williams would stand out in her first two Big Ten conference series. She would finish with a .400 batting average with 10 hits including one HR and five RBI's.
Graduate student Mazie MacFarlane also made her presence known. The right fielder from Utah State missed all of last season with an injury but has provided an immediate impact with her bat and her glove this season. Mazie has started in 32 of the 33 games for the Terps this season. She is currently second on the team in batting average with .341 and is fourth on the team in hits with 30.
MacFarlane would finish her first two weekends in Big Ten Conference play hitting .421 with eight hits and two RBIs. She would also record a HR and two RBI's after her first conference series against Minnesota.
Against James Madison, MacFarlane would go 2-for-3 with two HRs including a grand slam and 5 RBIs. MacFarlane would tie her career-high RBI mark. This would be the first multi-HR game of her career and her fifth multi-hit game of the season.

Diamond Williams currently is sixth in the Big Ten in slugging with a .699.

In the circle

Maryland has been led in the circle this season by four players.
Graduate student Courtney Wyche has been a consistent threat in the circle this year for the Terps. She is currently 9-6 and leads the team with a 2.33 ERA. Wyche also leads the team in strikeouts with 136.
Against No. 25 Oregon, Wyche had a dominant performance which helped Maryland upset the ranked Ducks. Courtney went the distance for her 37th complete game while allowing just four hits and zero runs to secure the win. It was the 10th shutout of her career and the 37th time in program history that Maryland has defeated a ranked opponent.
Wyche is currently in fourth place in career strikeouts with 561. She became one of only five players to notch 500 in a career. She is tied for fifth in career wins with 48 only three wins behind moving into third place. Lastly, she has pitched 554.3 innings in her career, only 24 innings away from moving into fifth place.
Bri Godfrey joined the Terrapins after playing her freshman season at Marshall. She currently tied for second on the team in wins as she has a 3-4 record after starting in 12 games. Godfrey is third on the team in ERA with a 4.25. Against San Diego, Godfrey would pitch six shutout innings only allowing one hit to earn her first win as a Terp. Against Green Bay, Godfrey would pitch five dominant innings only allowing two hits to earn her third win of the season.
Genevieve Ebaugh has been another strong arm for Maryland. After missing her freshman season due to an injury she picked up her first college win on February 24 against Green Bay. She pitched her first career complete game only allowing one run on three hits and striking out six batters. She currently has the second best ERA on the team with a 3.46 and has only given up 13 earned runs in 26.1 innings.
Against Lafayette, Ebaugh pitched her second career shutout and three career complete game. She would finish the game allowing just three hits and struck out four batters.
Freshman Julia Shearer would earn her first win of her college career after pitching 2.2 innings against James Madison.

Opponents are currently hitting just .255 when Bri Godfrey is in the circle.

national spotlight

Courtney Wyche had a few record setting performances this past weekend at Penn State.
Courtney Wyche struck out a career-high 19 batters in Maryland softball's 2-0 upset win over No. 22 Penn State in nine innings at Nittany Lion Softball Park on Friday. Wyche broke the NCAA individual game-high for strikeouts in 2024.
Wyche struck out a total of 38 batters and allowed 11 hits and three runs through 22.1 innings pitched in the series. Her impressive showing included a 19-strikeout performance in game one on Friday, setting the 2024 NCAA single-game season-high mark.
Wyche would earn the NCAA National Pitcher of the Week award for her stellar performance against Penn State this would be the first time in her career that Wyche would win this national award.
Wcyhe would earn Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season for her weekend performance against Penn State. This would be the fourth time in her career that Wyche would win this award.
Wyche would earn her first Big Ten Pitcher of the Week nomination for her 11 strikeout performance against Boston College. This would be the third time that Wyche won this award.