Maryland Softball Drops Three-Game Series Against Indiana
The Maryland Terrapins Softball team played in its third Big Ten series of the year, falling to the Indiana Hoosiers in its three-game series this past weekend.
The series went as follows....
- March 20th, Friday: Loss (8-5)
- March 21st, Saturday: Loss (10-2) 5 innings
- March 22nd, Sunday: Loss (7-2)
Maryland drops to 13-17 overall on the season and 1-8 in the conference. The Terps have struggled on the road, with a 1-9 record, and their lone victory came against East Carolina last month.
Meanwhile, Indiana improves to 25-6.
Let's break down each game of the series and what went wrong for the Terrapins this past weekend....
Game One (Friday afternoon)
The Terps had commanding control through the first four innings of play. Caroline Fox hit an RBI single through right field in the second inning, and Bailey Murphy expanded the lead with a three-run RBI double in the fourth.
Caitlin Olensky made her 12th start on the mound; up to the end of the fourth, she had not surrendered any runs, struck out two batters, and allowed only one hit.
Entering the fifth, Indiana responded with a huge offensive explosion, scoring four runs to tie up the game, highlighted by a two-run homer by Alli Gavin.
The Hoosiers took their first lead of the game in the sixth inning, scoring on a wild pitch.
Zayda Rocke bombed a solo homer out to deep left field to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth.
⬇️6️⃣ Zayda ties the game on a solo home run!💣
— Maryland Softball (@TerpsSoftball) March 20, 2026
UMD 5 | IU 5 #FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/pEkDe3ha6s
However, two home runs in the top of the seventh inning by Alex Cooper and Madalyn Strader produced three runs to secure the victory for Indiana.
Game Two (Saturday afternoon)
The Indiana Hoosiers plated 10 total runs in game two at Maryland Softball Stadium. The Hoosiers used a six-run second inning that was capped off by an Alex Cooper grand slam that blew the game open.
Indiana added three runs through a solo homer (4th inning) and a two-run RBI triple (5th inning).
In the bottom of the fifth, Anna McGowan plated the Terps' first run of the game, followed by Matti Benson adding the final run of the game with an RBI sacrifice fly.
Game Three (Sunday afternoon)
McGowan once again scored the Terps' first two runs of the game, hitting a two-run shot that carried out to center field in the opening inning.
⬇️1️⃣ TWO RUN BOMB BY ANNA MCGOWAN💣
— Maryland Softball (@TerpsSoftball) March 22, 2026
UMD 2 | IU 0#FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/ULvgYwF5Gr
Olensky made her second start of the series; she held the Hoosiers to one run through four innings and struck out four batters.
In the fifth inning, Indiana grabbed the lead 4-2, after a two-run RBI double and a RBI double out to left field.
The Hoosiers plated three more runs in the final inning of the game after a three-run homer by Josie Bird to further cement their win.
Mariah Penta was the leading hitter, going 3-for-4 at the plate.
Up Next:
Maryland starts the first of back-to-back series on the road, first squaring off against Wisconsin on Friday in game one of a three-game series. The first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.
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Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.