Entering their second weekend of the young season, Maryland Softball looked for some consistency in the Purple-Gold Classic, held in Greenville, North Carolina.
They faced Notre Dame, East Carolina, and Buffalo — whom they played on the first weekend — as they looked to right their 2-3 start to the season.
Maryland went 3-2 on the weekend to improve its record to 5-5.
After their last encounter with Buffalo, in which the Terps were down until the final inning, the first game of the Purple-Gold followed up with another nail-biter, ending 3-2 after the eighth inning.
In addition to an RBI from Anna McGowan, catcher Zayda Rocke continued her domination of the Bulls, scoring 2 RBIs against them for the second time.
In their next match, the Terps took on arguably the best team in the tournament, Notre Dame. After going down 4-0 early in the game, RBIs from McGowan, her second of the tournament, and PH Logan Turner were not enough to get the job done as the Terps lost the game, 5-2.
In their final game against Buffalo, the Terps finally broke the close game cycle as they ended the 8-0 game an inning early. McGowan showed up yet again, ending the game on a two RBI double, making it four RBIs in three games.
Additionally, Rocke added to her RBI total with a sac fly to start the game. Five different Terps had six hits on the day, and five different players batted runners in.
The final two games of the tournament were against the host team, East Carolina. Unlike two matchups against the home team last week, when the Terps faced UCF, these games came down to the wire.
A two RBI double from Maraih Penta with the bases loaded would end up being enough to win the game, thanks to starting pitcher Keira Bucher. Although she gave up eight runs in her complete game, Maryland surrendered only one, continuing their strong defense from the previous game.
The Maryland offense would score two more runs in the fifth inning to close the game 4-1.
The rematch against East Carolina would follow a similar pattern to the first. The Pirates jumped to a 2-0 lead early on.
Maryland’s pitchers Caitlin Olensky and Elisa Weigand did their job the rest of the way, not allowing another run. But the Terps offense could not capitalize on the strong defense after the first inning, scoring only one run in the sixth, resulting in a 2-1 loss to end the tournament.
Overall, the Terps fared better than the Black & Gold Classic, going 3-2 over the weekend. They only allowed more than two runs once, much better than last week, when they allowed three or more runs four times.
The Terps offense did not generate as many runs as last week, but remained relatively consistent throughout the weekend, avoiding a shutout in any game. They played more cohesive games as a team, pulling off close, gritty wins multiple times.
Maryland is now 5-5 on the season, and they look for their first power conference win at the Mizuno Classic in Charlottesville, Virginia.
