By Justin Fitzgerald
It was an up and down weekend in Norman for Maryland. After dropping the first two games of the invitational to St. Louis and Brigham Young, Breanna Nation threw a no hitter in the rematch against St. Louis, the first for Maryland since 2013. But the Terps were also beaten soundly by No.14 Oklahoma 11-2 and 11-0 to end the weekend.
In the first game on Saturday, Maryland defeated St. Louis 8-0 in five innings after losing to them 11-2 in six innings the day before. Nation struggled in the first inning, walking two batters, but after that pitched four perfect innings to finish off the no-hitter.
The offense came through for Maryland against the Billikens after scoring six the previous two games. They started in the top of the first, when Hannah Dewey singled to second and scored leadoff hitter Skylynne Ellazar. In the second inning the Terps added four more runs on a grand slam from Emily Libero, giving Nation a 5-0 lead.
It was more of the same in the third inning, as a Kylie Datil two run homerun extended Maryland’s lead to 7-0. In just three innings, Maryland had scored more runs than they had in the first two games of the tournament.
The Terps added one more run in the fifth on a Hannah Dewey single, and Nation finished off the no hitter by getting Emma Buckles to ground out to second.
It was a much different result in the second game of the day. Pitcher Kelsey Dewey struggled in the first, giving up two walks and two hits, and the Sooners had a 2-0 lead. It was a different story the next three innings, as Dewey allowed only one hit.
After struggling in the first four innings against Oklahoma pitcher Kelsey Stevens, Maryland broke through in the fifth. With two outs, Sarah Calta tripled to left and Dewey hit a homerun to tie the game.
But after that, the Terps fell apart. Dewey retired Sydney Romero to start the fifth, but was replaced with Nation after walking Kelsey Arnold. Nation then walked Lea Wodach, but got the next batter to ground out. Maryland was only one away from getting out of the inning, but Fale Aviue homered to left to give Oklahoma a 5-2 lead. Maryland gave up another six runs in the sixth, and another Aviue home run gave the Sooners an 11-2 mercy rule win.
Maryland struggled again on Sunday. After Ellazar hit a leadoff single to start the game, Maryland did not get another hit until Calta singled to start the fifth. But the Terps still had opportunities, and failed to score with runners on first and second in both the second and third inning.
Oklahoma capitalized on Maryland’s lack of offense, scoring three runs in the second and another two in the third to take a 5-0 lead. Oklahoma then added six runs in the sixth, mercy ruling the Terps on a pinch hit grand slam by Paris Townsend.
After a 1-4 weekend Maryland drops to 7-17 heading into next weekend’s Maryland Invitational. It will be the first time the Terps have played at home all season.
