Maryland softball is headed into 2026 looking to improve on a disappointing 2025 season.
After going 18-31 last season, head softball coach Lauren Karn is looking to bounce back in her third season leading the program.
The Terps opened their season at the Black & Gold Classic, hosted by UCF in Orlando, Fla. Maryland (2-3) began the tournament with a 3-0 loss to Boston University, but followed up with a 10-3 win against Buffalo and 5-1 win over CSU Bakersfield.
Sunday’s doubleheader came against UCF. Both games ended in the fifth inning with the Terps losing both contests by eight runs, 15-7 and 9-1 respectively.
The Terps defense shined against Boston University, but their offensive struggles held the team back. Starting pitcher Aubrey Wurst held the Terriers to one run through five innings but Maryland’s offense could not capitalize. It recorded only one hit and reached base three times all game.
In the back half of the double header against Buffalo, Maryland delivered a much better offensive output.
The Terps opened the game with Zayda Rock RBI and another run from a wild pitch. The offense looked like it was back on track.
However, the defense started off poorly, giving up three runs to start the game, two of which were unearned runs.
Luckily for the Terp defense, the offense wasn’t done scoring.
After a stagnant midgame, where both defenses shut out the opponent for five straight innings, the Terp offense found some traction late. Maryland scored eight runs in the final inning of the game, a possible loss into a blowout win.
Maryland carried the momentum of Friday’s victory into Saturday afternoon, when they cruised to a comfortable win against CSU Bakersfield. After gaining a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, the Terps continued the scoring in the fifth, making the score 4-0. Some baserunning mistakes seemingly cost the team a chance at more runs, but Coach Karn was not concerned.
“We need them to be as aggressive as possible in order for us to manufacture runs, and that’s what they were attempting to do,” said Karn.
The Terps’ final two games against UCF were not as clean as their previous wins, and the only power-conference team they faced capitalized on their mistakes.
It wasn’t like that from the start. Maryland scored four runs in the first, but it could not keep up with the high-powered offense of the Golden Knights. After giving up nine runs in the fifth inning, the mercy rule was enforced to hand the Terps their second loss.
It had a different score, but the result was the same, as Maryland never led in the blowout loss.
The Terps only scored one run through five innings and lost by mercy rule again.
Next weekend, the Terps will travel to Greenville, N.C. for the Purple-Gold Classic to face Buffalo again, Notre Dame and East Carolina.
