By Justin Fitzgerald
Maryland softball ended their season on a high note, defeating Indiana 10-8. With the win Maryland snapped a 13 game losing streak and ended the season 12-40 and 4-19 in Big Ten play. Indiana dropped to 28-24 and 10-13 in the Big Ten.
The win came on senior day in College Park, and the Terps honored Lindsey Schmeiser and Corey Schwartz before the game. Schmeiser made the most of her final game, going 2-4 with an RBI double in the second as part of a of a six run rally. This comes after Schmeiser didn’t know if she would be able to play again this year after suffering a back injury against Florida Atlantic earlier this season.
“To not have been able to play in my fourth year would have been the worst way to go out, so I was definitely happy that I got to finish,” Schmeiser said.
After having opportunities yesterday with runners on, Maryland finally broke through in the bottom of the second. Jordan Aughinbaugh walked to start the inning, and then moved to second after Indiana pitcher Josie Wood made an errant throw trying to field a sacrifice bunt from Julie Henderson. After Corey Schwartz grounded out, Kylie Datil doubled to center and Aughinbaugh and Henderson scored. After Hannah Dewey lined out, Schmeiser, Skylynne Ellazar, and Kristina Dillard hit back to back to back doubles and Sarah Lang singled to give Maryland a 6-0 lead.
After leaving runners on second and third in the second, Indiana got to Brenna Nation in the third. Sarah Galovich doubled and Rebecca Blitz singled to start the inning, but Nation got Erin Lehman to fly out and Blitz was thrown out trying to steal second.
With two outs, Indiana scored five runs,a rally that started when Shannon Cawley singled and Galovich scored. After walking CaraMia Tsirigos and Sarah Huber, Nation appeared to get out of the jam when Kelsey Dotson hit a ground ball to third. But the ball bounced off Ellazar’s glove and Cawley scored. Then Taylor Uden hit a two run single to left, and Rachel O’Malley followed that up with an RBI single. The inning could have lasted even longer, but Uden was tagged out after being caught in a rundown between second and third.
Indiana added another unearned run in the fourth when Cawley hit a soft ground ball to short and Schmeiser’s throw sailed over Aughinbaugh’s head, allowing Blitz to score. Tsirigos followed that by hitting a ball off Nation’s knee, but Ellazar charged the ball and threw her out to end the inning. Nation would remain in the game and earned her sixth win of the season.
Maryland didn’t score with runners on first and second in the fourth, and it looked like they would come up empty again in the fifth after two straight popups with the bases loaded. But Ellazar crushed a 2-2 pitch off the scoreboard for a grand slam to give the Terps a 10-6 lead. It was a big game for Ellazar, who set a new career high with five RBIs and tied a career high with three hits.
“I’ve actually never hit a grand slam before, so that was awesome,” Ellazar said.
Indiana got two runs in the seventh on a homerun from Huber and an RBI single from O’Malley, but Nation got Galovich to ground out to end the game.
Despite the team setting a record for the most losses in program history, head coach Julie Wright is optimistic about next season.
“You’re going to be surprised in what this team looks like next year,” Wright said.
