Maryland softball suffered a brutal loss in the twelfth inning to Rutgers after a rollercoaster game, continuing their woes in conference play from 2025. 

Both teams struggled to play a clean game. First, Maryland scored 3 runs off the back of Rutgers’ fielding errors. Then, Rutgers came back in the seventh inning thanks to poor pitching and terrible fielding. 

The script flipped once extras began, as both teams could not buy a run, no matter how hard they tried.

The chaotic affair turned into a pitcher’s duel, which ended after Rutgers designated player Siera Hoekstra batted in Riley Hwang. Rutgers pitcher Brooke Shifflett ended the game with a strikeout, handing Maryland a 6-5 loss at Maryland Softball Stadium. 

Riddled with mistakes from both sides, Sunday’s matchup could have looked very different if the conference opponents had executed properly. 

Maryland’s mistakes nearly cost them the game, as they conceded a 4-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning due to pitcher Keira Bucher’s worst inning of the season, plus some poor fielding. 

The Terps scored multiple runs in the fifth, but they nearly came up empty-handed after multiple razor-thin interactions. 

Elisea Wiegand looked to build on her 1-hit performance against UMBC on March 1, which she did with three strikeouts and only one run allowed. 

Bucher replaced Wiegand at the end of the fifth inning but she couldn’t replicate the success. She gave up 3 runs and surrendered a two-run lead in the seventh inning. The fielding in the seventh did not provide any support to the struggling Bucher. 

After designated player Hailey Stripling started the inning off with a single, she advanced to second on a wild pitch, a sign of what was to come in the rest of the inning. 

Another single and a sacrifice bunt to make the score 4-3 and Sam Rohwer lined a double to center field to tie the game. 

The lead-taking run was a brutal display from second baseman Caroline Fox, who stumbled as the ball rolled to her for what looked like an easy groundout. Rohwer crossed home to go up one. 

As for Maryland’s usage of opponents’ mistakes, they needed them more than the Scarlet Knights. 

In the fifth inning, Caitlyn Cornwell and Sammi Woods managed to get on first and second base, and Anna McGowan was up to bat. 

The Sophomore has been Maryland’s best hitter this season and grounded the ball to second in a series that looked like a secure double play. But second baseman Sam Rohwer narrowly missed the tag on Woods, resulting in runners advancing to second and third with one out. 

Mariah Penta’s swing also should have resulted in an easy out, rolling straight to first base. In a brutal turn of events for the Scarlet Knights, first baseman Baileigh Burtis fumbled the catch, and the ball rolled into right field, scoring Cornwell. 

Zayda Rocke followed that up with an RBI double that hit the left field wall, scoring 2 more runs and giving the Terps the 4-2 lead they would hold until the finish. 

As for the pitching, Wiegand gave up a hit in the second inning, but she stayed strong until the fourth, where she would eventually concede two runs. Bucher, Maryland’s best pitcher thus far, took over at the end of the fifth inning. 

Maryland’s fielders stayed strong until they needed to stiffen up most, making the error that would end up leading to the tying run. They finished the game with only one error. 

Maryland’s offense froze in extra innings, falling to score a run and sealing its tenth loss of the season.