The No. 11 Ohio State softball team takes on Canisius College today in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Buckeye Field.

OSU (44-9, 16-4 Big Ten) finished the season second in the conference and won 20 of its last 23 games.

Senior captain Kim Reeder led the pitching staff with a 23-5 record and a 1.43 ERA. OSU’s 1.65 ERA was third in the Big Ten.

Reeder’s confidence is high and she is expected to start game one of the regional.

“I think from here on out the only team that can beat us is ourselves,” she said.

Junior catcher Sam Marder leads the Buckeyes in batting average (.365), home runs (18) and total bases (111). This year OSU has hit 61 home runs, compared to just 21 last season.

The Buckeyes have played Canisius once before, and came out on top in the 1999 match.

Canisius’ offense is led by senior third basemen Cameron Norton. She leads the team in batting average (.307) and RBIs (28).

Senior Mallory Aldred will start Thursday for Canisius. She is 19-7 and has a 1.95 ERA in 33 appearances.

The 44 wins recorded by the Buckeyes this season are the most since they won 55 in 2002. The Buckeyes’ win record this season is the third-best in program history.

OSU was given a No. 11 seed in the first round of the tournament, the same national rank it carried for the last two weeks of the regular season.

The Buckeyes are the top seed in the double-elimination regional tournament, which includes three other teams. Kentucky (32-21) and BYU (39-16) are possible opponents in this weekend’s tournament.

If OSU defeats Canisius, they will play at 2:30 p.m. Friday. If Canisius wins, the Buckeyes play at 5:30 p.m. at Buckeye Field.

This is OSU’s sixth appearance in the NCAA tournament, and the Buckeyes are 7-10 all-time in the regional.

OSU has never advanced to the Super Regional, the second round of the tournament. The Buckeyes will have to win three games to advance to the Super Regional.

OSU is 14-5 this season against ranked opponents and is 13-5 against 12 of the teams in the tournament field.

Record Watch

Kim Reeder is two wins away from tying the all-time career wins record at OSU. Reeder has 74 wins in her Buckeye career.

Evan Winkofsky can be reached at [email protected].