The Ohio State softball team, shown here outside of Munn Ice Arena to cheer on the Ohio State men’s hockey team in the Big Ten championship game, swept the Michigan Spartans in their weekend series in East Lansing. Credit: Ohio State Athletics
In its first road Big Ten series of the season, Ohio State annihilated its opponent.
The Buckeyes defeated the Spartans in all three games of their weekend series and outscored the Spartans 48-6 in East Lansing, Michigan.
Ohio State notched 11 home runs while only allowing 12 total hits in three games. The Buckeyes accounted for double-digit hits in every game, including a season-high 19 on Sunday.
Infielder Morgan Frye tallied a team-high seven hits and pitcher Lorin Boutte picked up two wins over the weekend to bring her win total to 12.
Game 1:
The Buckeyes erupted for an 11-run inning in the third, en route to a 17-1 victory over the Spartans Friday.
Ohio State’s third-inning explosion marked its highest-scoring frame of the season.
In the first at-bat of the game, left fielder Hadley Parisien belted a home run to give the Buckeyes an early lead.
In the next frame, in back-to-back at-bats, third baseman Sami Bewick’s two-run RBI double and shortstop Kami Kortokrax’s three-run bomb put Ohio State up six. Kortokrax’s blast was her third straight game with a home run.
But the Buckeyes were not done.
In the third, Ohio State added four runs before the Spartans could get an out and right fielder Taylor Cruse capped off the frame with a grand slam to give Ohio State a commanding 17-0 lead.
Michigan State added another run in the fifth, but it wasn’t nearly enough to prevent the Buckeyes from run-ruling their conference foe.
Game 2:
In its closest game of the series, Ohio State came alive late with three home runs in the seventh inning to knock off Michigan State 7-3 in the backend of its Friday double header.
With two solo home runs in the first, Michigan State maintained a 2-1 lead headed into the fifth.
Kortokrax and Cruse each had RBIs in the fifth and sixth frames, but the Spartans knotted it up in the sixth inning to tie the game at three.
Down to their last outs in the seventh, the Buckeyes seized their final opportunities.
In three straight at-bats, first baseman Reagan Milliken, second baseman Kaitlyn Farley and Frye all blasted home runs, achieving a 7-3 advantage.
Pitcher Kennedy Kay gave up zero hits in the bottom of the seventh to secure Ohio State’s sixth consecutive win.
Game 3:
The Buckeyes returned to Secchia Stadium Sunday, where they picked up their largest win of the season in a 24-2 thrashing.
Eleven different players recorded a hit as Kortokrax, Frye and center fielder Skylar Limon contributed three apiece.
Ohio State started quickly with an eight-run, four-home run first inning and never looked back.
Catcher Jasmyn Burns got things started with a three-run shot, which was followed by long balls from Farley, Frye and Parisien.
Over the next two frames, Milliken and Frye added two RBIs each to increase the Buckeye lead to 14.
In the fourth, the Buckeyes tallied ten more runs as seven different players delievered in RBIs.
The Spartans scored two runs in the fifth as the game finished 24-2. Boutte threw a no-hitter through three innings, leading to the Buckeyes’ 12th mercy rule victory.
Next up, No. 25 Ohio State (25-6-1, 4-1 Big Ten) returns to Buckeye Field for a matchup against Purdue Fort Wayne (5-15, 1-2 Horizon League) on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
