By Ryan Connors
Michigan’s Megan Betsa no-hit the Maryland Terrapins softball team Sunday in a 1-0 Wolverines win on senior day for the Terps.
Betsa, a sophomore, struck out 15 Maryland batters on the day and walked two, earning her 22nd win of the season.
“She had everything working for her,” Maryland head coach Courtney Scott Deifel said. “She had a great curveball, her offspeed was working, her rise had a good jump on it, so she was working all of her pitches and working them well.”
Michigan scored the game’s only run in the fourth when Kelly Christner doubled to left-center and advanced to third when centerfielder Kylie Datil couldn’t field the ball cleanly. Kelsey Susalla drove her in with a single to give the Wolverines the lead.
The Terps only left two players on base throughout the game. After Erin Pronobis walked in the second inning, catcher Shannon Bustillos bunted her to second base. Betsa struck out Juli Strange and Schmeiser, and never allowed another runner to advance to second base in the game.
This was Betsa’s second no-hitter of the season and the third of her career. She no-hit Michigan State on April 15, but only pitched five innings in a 10-0 blowout. She had a worthy opponent in this matchup.
“She’s incredible,” Bustillos said. “She had three different speeds and was moving the ball on both sides of the plate, and as you can tell she had us off-balance.”
Senior Kaitlyn Schmeiser pitched a complete game for the Terrapins in her last home start, scattering six hits and only giving up the one unearned run and striking out three.
“We really were just keeping them off-balance,” Bustillos said. “Her change-up was working well too.”
Although it came in a loss, Schmeiser was satisfied with her final performance at the Maryland Softball Stadium.
“This was honestly one of the best ways I could’ve gone out,” she said. “I’ve been watching this program since I was six or seven years old, I’ve been coming to games since I was six or seven. So it’s huge to come out and finish like this.
Michigan leads the Big Ten with 95 home runs, 23 more than Minnesota, the next best team. The Wolverines also lead the league in RBIs with 382, 45 more than Minnesota, who was 337.
This was the last home game for seven Maryland seniors. The team honored Jaymi Bautista-Geiger, Bustillos, Brigdet Hawvermale, Pronobis, Schmeiser, Mandy Gardner and Jessica Warner in a ceremony before the game. The team also displayed pictures of the seniors and their numbers at the entrance to the stadium.
The win completed the series sweep for the Wolverines, who won Friday’s game 8-0 in five innings and defeated the Terps 10-2 in six innings. They improved to 45-6 on the season and 18-2 in Big Ten play.
Maryland finished the season with an 8-11 home record, including a 4-7 home record against the Big Ten.
The Terrapins will face Big Ten bottom-dwellers Michigan State (17-32, last in the Big Ten) in a three-game series starting Friday in East Lansing.
