Ohio State sophomore second baseman/outfielder Tegan Cortelletti (2) prepares to slap bunt during the Ohio State-Maryland game on March 26. Ohio State won 5-0. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Stepping to the plate to lead off the bottom half of the first inning, Ohio State sophomore left fielder Tegan Cortelletti looked across at Northwestern’s junior left-hander Danielle Williams, who had shut out the Buckeyes the day prior and hadn’t allowed an earned run through 30 innings in the season.
Cortelletti drove a double to shallow left-center field, using her speed to reach scoring position.
Then, the Wildcats tried to backpick Cortelletti with a throw down to second, and the speedy baserunner took off for third, stealing her fourth base of the weekend.
Cortelletti later broke Williams’ scoreless-inning streak when she crossed home plate off junior shortstop Ashley Prange’s sacrifice fly, again using her speed to give the Buckeyes an early lead, but not without the help of Cortelletti’s competitive drive.
“It’s my job to make it look like I’m going every single time, and that time when I do go, they’re not expecting it,” Cortelletti said. “It’s a game in my head to make them yell ‘Runner!’ when I’m not going so that when I do go, it’s like it’s go-time, this catcher is not throwing me out no matter what.”
The second-year Buckeye was a terror on the basepaths and a threat at the plate as Ohio State wrapped its second and final weekend in Leesburg, Florida, with a series win over Wisconsin but dropped two to Northwestern.
Cortelletti beat out several infield singles en route to knocking 11 hits in her 21 at-bats, reaching base at a .545 clip and swiping five bases that weekend.
“I did have a lot of success at the plate, but walking up there I just knew like, ‘Don’t do too much with the ball and let your legs work,’ because any chance that I put the ball on the ground, I have a chance to be safe at first,” Cortelletti said.
The outfielder brings a different approach to the Buckeyes batting order. Cortelletti is the only slap-hitter on the roster, meaning she can take advantage of barrel control to have more command in where she wants to place the ball and has less distance to run down the basepath as she hits from the left-handed batter’s box.
Ohio State head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly said she’s known Cortelletti since she was 10 years old and that Cortelletti’s job to set the table for the rest of the order has been fun to watch.
“She’s always been the scrapper,” Schoenly said. “When you’re that fast, it’s like you have a superpower. She’s very successful at it; she’s learning how the different ways she can beat a defense. I think she sees like a puzzle, just the whole thing is fun for her, like a challenge.”
Cortelletti currently leads Ohio State hitters with 22 hits and a .400 batting average, which stands ninth best in the Big Ten.
The outfielder also is tied for the team lead in runs scored with nine and creates favorable at-bats for her subsequent hitters as she’s stolen 10 bases this season on 10 attempts to help set up situations with a runner in scoring position.
“It’s kind of funny because you have scouting reports, so everybody knows what I do when I walk up to the plate,” Cortelletti said. “You see the infield come in, you see the outfield come in, and really it’s just I walk up there and I’m like, ‘You know, they’re gonna come in on me, but I’m gonna beat them in front still.’ It’s fun to see I’m still gonna hit it in front of you and I’m still gonna beat it out.”
As a freshman a year ago, Cortelletti stole three bases and recorded eight hits in her 15 appearances before the Big Ten canceled the remainder of the spring sports season March 12, 2020.
Cortelletti said she spent extensive time in Ohio State’s hitting facility over the summer. The Hilliard, Ohio, native said she set the pitching machine to different pitch sequences and challenged herself, giving a live-pitching feel for batting practice.
“I think Tegan’s work ethic is incredible,” sophomore second baseman Mariah Rodriguez said. “I’ve never seen somebody make as much contact as Tegan Cortelletti does. She hits the ball and puts it in play every time she’s up to bat.”
Cortelletti said her confidence has helped her dig into the batter’s box with ferocity and that she strives to hit over .300 this season and continue to help put the Buckeyes in higher-scoring situations.
As she continues to set the table for the Ohio State offense, Cortelletti wants opposing defenses to know they’re going to have a hard time getting her out.
“I’m gonna put that ball in play almost every single time and you are gonna have to have your best defense up to get me out,” Cortelletti said. “I’m never gonna take an at-bat off, I’m gonna walk up there with an expectation of a hit every single time. If you get me out, you get me out, but I bet next time you won’t.”
