By Sununu Bah
A week after upsetting then-No. 1 Florida, a bizarre finish concluded quite a forgettable weekend for the Maryland Terrapins.
With one more inning left to halt a comeback that rebounded the Dartmouth Big Green from a 5-2 start, the two teams had to wrap things up despite a 5-5 tie due to the Big Green’s travel plans. Just as Maryland was off to a hotstart, Dartmouth senior Maddie Damore had different plans for the outcome of the game. Damore sparked a 3-0 run, with her 3-run night to bring the Big Green back from the dead to give them a tie under their belt for the weekend.
The tie places the Terps at 1-3-1 on the weekend classic and 2-11-1 overall.
In the first game of the classic against Drake Bulldogs, Maryland’s momentum was lost losing to the Bulldogs 3-0. Drake scored all their runs within their first six hits to distance themselves from the lackluster Terps. Drake pitchers limited the Terps to only five hits, in large part to the credit of junior Nicole Newman’s 12-strikeout performance.
The loss to the Bulldogs did not totally deter Maryland’s confidence, however, as they were able to bounce back during their second matchup Friday evening against Bowling Green Falcons.
Senior pitcher Madison Martin put on her invisible cape and led the Terps past the Falcons to a 3-0 victory. After Maryland’s hot start, Martin closed the game for the Terps, striking out 14 straight batters while allowing only one hit to give the team its only win on the weekend.
There was plenty of hope remaining in the hearts of Maryland, heading into its third game against the Bradley Braves. But fatal errors at critical moments of the game prevented the Terps from coming back to take the game. Even through all the struggles, Maryland still had a ripe opportunity to come back. In the bottom of the sixth, redshirt senior Juli Strange’s scored cutting the Braves deficit to two runs. The Terps defense then came through big-time by not allowing any runs to position themselves for a chance to pull of an impressive comeback in the bottom of the final inning. However, Maryland’s batters went ice-cold as a ground out, a caught pop up and foul ball put the nail in the coffin on the Terps’ aspirations.
Three hours later, in its toughest matchup of the weekend, the Terps couldn’t quite crack the scoreboard despite limiting No. 16 Louisiana-Lafayette Cajuns to only three scores. The third inning served as the momentum-swinger that decided the winner of this contest. It took the Cajuns three innings to get their first, once Haley Hayden scored on a sacrifice fly.
Maryland will head to Columbia, Missouri for the Missouri Tournament where they will face Butler, Oregon, Stephen F. Austin and Missouri.
