Terps Drop Final Regular Season Series to Michigan State

The Maryland softball team finished the regular season over the weekend, losing two of three games to the Michigan State Spartans.

In the first game on Friday, Maryland suffered a tough, 4-3 loss. Senior Kaitlyn Schmeiser pitched a complete game, yet let up four earned runs on six hits. Maryland scored all their runs in the fourth inning when senior Shannon Bustillos hit a solo home run, junior Juli Strange had an RBI double, and junior Lindsey Schmeiser secured a sacrifice fly. However, Maryland struggled offensively the rest of the game as they failed to get a hit over the next three innings.

Game 2 of the series was a different story as Maryland was able to come away with a 6-5 victory. Both teams started hot offensively, each scoring four runs in their end of the first inning. Junior Corey Schwartz hit a solo home run to start off scoring, and Kaitlyn Schmeiser pitched in with three RBIs throughout the game. Strange and senior Mandy Gardner each collected an RBI as well.

Shannon Bustillos broke the all-time Maryland RBI record in game three of the series. (Courtesy of UMTerps.com)

Four Lady Terps pitched in this game to combine for a win. Sophomore Hannah Dewey struggled in the first, giving up four runs on one hit, two walks, and two hit-by-pitches. Sophomore Brenna Nation and senior Jaymi Bautista-Geiger settled the team down, combining for three innings of one-run softball. Finally, Kaitlyn Schmeiser collected the win and finished the game with two scoreless innings.

In the final game of the series, Maryland failed to finish the season strong with a 7-4 loss. Kaitlyn Schmeiser once again started, but didn’t succeed as much as she had previously. She allowed five runs on seven hits through three innings. Dewey and Bautista-Geiger each pitched in this game also, as Dewey let up the final two runs, only one earned.

Bustillos gave the Terps the majority of the offense with a three run home run in the fourth inning, breaking the Maryland all-time RBI record. Dewey collected the other RBI with a sacrifice fly.

Maryland finishes the season with a 27-26 record, 9-14 in Big Ten play. Maryland’s regular season earned them the eighth seed in the Big Ten tournament, and the play No.9 Penn State on Thursday.