Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

After competing in three tournaments in the warm locales of Florida and South Carolina, the Terrapin softball team will host a tournament of its own this weekend, the Maryland Spring Break Classic, this weekend. The tournament will pit the Terps (15-1) against four teams from New York and one team from this state.

The Terps will play Stony Brook (5-4) and Seton Hall (4-7) tomorrow, Columbia (3-2) and Fordham (5-9) on Saturday, and Mount St. Mary's (3-10) on Sunday to close out the weekend. Early forecasts are calling for thunderstorms Friday evening and throughout Saturday. And once again, the temperature will be cool.

The team kicked off a 14-game homestand Wednesday with two wins over James Madison, and is looking to build on its 12-game winning streak, ACC-best record and standing in the national polls. The Terps remain one of the hottest teams in the country and they know their success is drawing the attention of every team they play.

"It definitely puts more pressure on us to do well, because all these teams are going to come out and attack us because they have nothing to lose and really want to beat us," senior outfielder Jenny Belak said . "We have to make sure we're at the top of our game."

Both the coaches and players have placed a heavy emphasis on using their success and subsequent recognition as motivation to get even better, and stress they cannot afford to become complacent.

"We have to get better at playing and executing through all seven innings," coach Laura Watten said. "We're going to face a team at some point who's going to be playing at their best for seven innings. We can't train ourselves to do that; we have to do it consistently."

One thing the Terps have been doing consistently is winning. They're hoping that trend stays alive as they battle their opponents and the weather this weekend.

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