During its last outing, Indiana softball displayed resilience in its 13-7 victory over No.18 Ohio State behind senior pitcher Brianna Copeland’s record day. Despite going down 0-2 in the series, the Hoosiers finished in grand fashion to pick up their first ranked win of the season March 31.
Indiana will look to carry its momentum into its three-game weekend series with Maryland from April 5-7 at Andy Mohr Field. The Hoosiers won their last four matchups against Maryland and lead the all-time series at 16-7.
The Terrapins head into the weekend on a four-game losing streak and an overall record of 15-19. Maryland lost to then-No. 1 University of Texas, then-No. 8 Texas Tech University and then-No. 7 UCLA, but picked up a notable win against then-No. 21 University of California, Berkeley in their second game of the season.
Maryland lost one of its most valuable players from last season in pitcher Courtney Wyche. The 2024 graduate led the Big Ten in total strikeouts with 243 in her final season. Wyche signed a professional contract with the New York Rise in June of 2024.
With the loss of Wyche, Maryland’s pitching has fallen short of its statistics from last season. Freshman Aubrey Wurst, sophomore Julia Shearer and junior Bri Godfrey are the three main pitchers in rotation to fill the position.
Godfrey and Wurst each have 36 strikeouts this season, while Shearer is close behind with 31.
Last season, Wyche also had an ERA percentage of 2.82. However, this season, the leading ERA percentage on the team is 4.32, a considerably lower number than last season.
Despite the loss of their standout pitcher, the Terrapins added five freshmen and a transfer from Auburn University. They returned multiple of their offensive weapons including junior infielder Sydney Lewis and senior outfielder Mazie MacFarlane.
Lewis earned All-Big Ten second team honors her sophomore year after playing in all 54 games and leading the team in runs batted in with 41 total. This season Lewis leads the Terrapins in homeruns, RBI’s and is top three in batting average on the team with a .327.
Last season MacFarlane was in the top two in team batting average and had her personal best batting average of her career with a .338. This season MacFarlane has continued her success as she leads the team in hits and runs scored and is second in batting average with a .340 average, just behind sophomore outfielder Bailey Murphy.
As a team, the Terrapins are hitting .266 and do not have any players hitting in the .400s. However, Indiana has a team batting average of .381 and has three players hitting over .400. Senior outfielder Taylor Minnick leads the Hoosiers with a batting average of .484.
While Indiana has the better offense statistically, the Hoosiers and Terrapins are tied in conference standings with three wins each. Both teams are seeking their fourth conference win of the season and are looking to gain ground in the conference standings.
The weekend series will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday and can be streamed on Big Ten+. The first game will be followed by a matchup at 7 p.m. Sunday and can be streamed on Big Ten Network. The final game of the series will be at noon Monday on Big Ten+.
