The Ohio State Softball team huddles up before the Ohio State-Michigan game April 9, 2021. Ohio State lost 7-0. Credit: Christian Harsa | Special Projects Director
Ohio State softball encountered its first bump in the road this season, losing to Liberty Saturday, but rebounded with two more wins before coming back to Columbus.
The Buckeyes (7-1) could not string together enough offense to topple the Flames (5-5), losing 3-2 Saturday. In the second game of the doubleheader, Ohio State came back with a resounding 10-2 win against Stetson (6-4), before rounding out the weekend with a 5-2 victory against North Carolina (6-3) Sunday.
The pitching staff was the highlight of the weekend, only allowing 1.09 earned runs in 35 innings of action. Graduate lefty Lexie Handley led the way with a 1.11 ERA and .159 opposing batting average. Sophomore righties Allison Smith and Emily Ruck contributed a combined 15 innings, striking out 18.
While it took a game for the offense to warm up, they did not look back after the Liberty loss. Junior infielder Avery Clark and freshman designated player Melina Wilkison each had six hits at the plate, and senior outfielder Meggie Otte drove in a team-high four runs on the weekend.
Liberty
Smith got the nod for the start against the Flames, and the first inning was not easy. Giving up two hits and a walk, Smith got out of a bases-loaded jam as a result of Clark getting the final out in foul territory.
It didn’t get any easier in the next couple of innings for Smith. Liberty redshirt freshman infielder Raigan Barrett drove in freshman outfielder Rachel Roupe to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
In the third inning, Liberty sophomore catcher Caroline Hudson led things off with a single, and head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly had seen enough from Smith. Handley went in to pitch to senior infielder Lou Allan, who knocked in Hudson with a double to left center.
The Flames were not done, with Roupe singling again to score sophomore outfielder Mary Claire Wilson, giving Liberty a 3-0 lead.
Handley kept a win within reach, not giving up any more hits the remainder of the game.
The Buckeyes’ offense didn’t come alive until the sixth inning, threatening to take the lead.
Wilkison led off the inning with a single, then sophomore outfielder Taylor Heckman reached base on an error. Otte reached on a fielder’s choice, and scored alongside Wilkison on a single from senior infielder Niki Carver, cutting the Flames’ lead down to one.
The only offense Ohio State produced in the seventh inning was a single from junior infielder Mariah Rodriguez, which ultimately led to the Buckeyes’ first loss of the season.
Smith took the loss, giving up five hits and two runs in two innings pitched.
Stetson
The Ohio State offense wasted no time against Stetson, jumping ahead early in the second inning.
Clark led things off with a double, and was substituted out for sophomore McKenzie Bump to come in and pinch run for her. Junior catcher Taylor Pack singled, then caused a ruckus on the basepaths when stealing second, which scored Bump.
Wilkison knocked in Pack with a triple, senior outfielder Jaycee Ruberti drove in Wilkison with a single and Otte decided to clear the basepaths with her first home run of the season, making the score 5-0 by the end of the inning.
Ruck was the starter for the game, and didn’t experience her first hiccup until the bottom of the third, when she gave up a sacrifice fly to junior infielder Marissa Baxter, scoring sophomore infielder Juls Schumacher.
Schumacher contributed again in the fourth, this time from the plate, hitting an RBI single to narrow the Buckeyes’ lead 5-2. However, this would prove to be the last runs scored from the Hatters.
The Buckeyes’ kept the offensive party going the rest of the game. Clark hit an RBI single in the fifth, as did Otte in the sixth. Carver added an RBI with a groundout to shortstop, stretching the lead to 8-2.
Ohio State scoring spanned the entirety of the game, adding two final runs in the seventh inning. Junior outfielder Tegan Cortelletti’s single to left drove in one, then Ruberti hit a sacrifice fly, bringing the final score to 10-2.
Ruck picked up her second win of the season, going six innings, only giving up three hits, two runs and five walks. Senior right-hander Jessica Ross came on in the seventh to close out the game.
The 11-hit offensive barrage was led by four Buckeyes who had multiple hits, including Otte, who led the team with three RBIs.
North Carolina
Once again, the Buckeyes’ offense refused to slow down their momentum, scoring first in the second inning.
Clark and Carver both reached on singles before freshman infielder Kami Kortokrax added one of her own to score Carver. Senior outfielder Kaitlyn Coffman joined in on the singles ambush, scoring Lindsey Potter who pinch ran for Clark, making it 2-0.
Handley was on the mound for the Buckeyes, cruising until the fourth inning, where she gave up her only runs of the game. Graduate infielder Sara Jubas led things off with a single, and following a bunt and a couple more hits to advance her to third, she scored, alongside sophomore infielder Skyler Brooks, on a fielding error.
Ohio State responded right back with a run of its own, with freshman infielder Kaitlyn Farley getting her first collegiate hit to score Kortokrax.
The Buckeyes kept a one-run-per-inning pace from the fourth through six, with junior catcher Sam Hackenbracht scoring Ruberti in the fifth. Farley struck again in the sixth, this time scoring Clark with another single.
Handley did not give up any more runs after the fourth, only allowing one more hit in that time frame. She failed to reach double-digit strikeouts for the first time as a starter for the Buckeyes, just one shy with a total of nine, while picking up her third win this season.
Ohio State travels back down south next weekend to Columbia, South Carolina for the Gamecock Invitational.
The Buckeyes face No. 8 Virginia Tech at 1:00 p.m. Friday, South Carolina at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Troy at 6 p.m. Saturday and Miami (OH) to close out the weekend Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
