In the midst of a 13-game conference losing streak, Maryland softball couldn’t have wished to face one of the best pitchers in the nation on Friday.
But against No. 18 Oregon, defending All-Big Ten First Team pitcher Lyndsey Grein took the mound and mowed the Terps down, unlike any pitcher has all season.
Grein struck out eight batters as the Ducks cruised to an 11-0 decimation of the Terps.
The difference in pitching was evident from the start. While Oregon secured nine runs and nine hits through the first four innings, Grein struck out seven of Maryland’s first 10 batters.
Grein’s masterclass matches her elite performance this season as the Ducks’ top pitcher.
The senior boasts a 2.31 ERA and averages over 4 strikeouts per game, defending her Big Ten first-team honors well in her second season with Oregon, and those averages both improved against Maryland.
“Today we were getting beat before we even stepped in the box, knowing what she’s done to other hitters,’ said head coach Lauren Karn.
The Terps didn’t help themselves. Their defense and pitching were a disaster.
After avoiding conceding a run through two innings, things crumbled in the third. An offensive explosion of nine runs through the third and fourth was the knockout blow.
Maryland’s dugout couldn’t stop the bleeding. Any pitching change that Karn tried backfired.
First, Caitlin Olensky gave up five runs in the third. Then was replaced by Aubrey Wurst, who walked three batters and allowed a single do, prompting Karn to put Olensky back in the game.
“Aubrey just wasn’t able to execute there, and I thought it would be better to bring Olensky back in,” said Karn.
The re-replacement didn’t work. Three runners crossed home once Olensky came back in – all of which were credited to Wurst as she failed to record an out.
In total, Olensky surrendered seven earned runs on nine hits through five innings.
“We need to pitch more competitively, right? And that’s been a thing for us each week, is we’ve lost games big, and we’ve missed pitches that offenses are capitalizing on,” said Karn
Maryland’s offense didn’t help its case, despite making changes to its batting order ahead of Friday’s game.
Sammi Woods, who leads the team in batting average, moved up to the leadoff spot, moving Bailey Murphy to second. Anna McGowan, who led Maryland in nearly every batting metric out of conference, moved down to the sixth spot after batting in the top four for most of the season.
The decision did not pay off, but some of that must be attributed to Grein’s elite performance.
“There have been changes that we’ve been talking about over the last few weeks, and so we pulled the trigger on it today, and I’m not anticipating that changing going into tomorrow, because I don’t think we saw enough today to see how it actually is going to play out,” said Karn.
Maryland will have to face Grien again Sunday, looking for a different result.
Oregon entered the series with 29 wins on the year, including 10 in conference play. It’s five straight wins, contrasted with Maryland’s momentum entering Friday. The Terps snapped a nine-game losing streak on Wednesday, but haven’t won a conference game in over a month.
Friday’s loss marks the Terps’ fifth time getting shut out this season, and they are winless in opening games against conference opponents.
As the season winds down with two more games this weekend and two more series to come, the Terps have only won one conference game.
Although they will host the Big Ten Tournament, they will likely fail to qualify for it.
