Ohio State’s softball team huddles up during their game against Iowa game Feb. 26. Ohio State split the series. Credit: Ohio State Athletic Department
For the first time in what will be 698 days, the Buckeyes will play at Buckeye Field.
Ohio State (6-6) will open its home slate of ballgames Friday against Maryland (6-6). The two clubs will play a four-game series, including a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“I think there’s a lot of girls that are very excited to play on this field,” head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly said. “I just think they’re excited to be home. They’re proud of their field, they’re proud to play at Buckeye Field. I think there’s a lot of confidence that they gain by playing on the field they practice on.”
The Buckeyes narrowly dropped their last two games two weeks ago in Leesburg, Florida, against then-No. 23 Northwestern after a series win over Wisconsin March 12.
Senior right-hander Payton Buresch logged 15.1 innings last time she took the circle two weeks ago, including a brilliant 10-inning, two-hit gem in which she allowed one run March 11 against Wisconsin. She didn’t allow her first hit until the eighth inning — the first frame in extras — and the contest went 15 innings, breaking the Buckeyes program record for longest game.
“Payton’s the one who’s grinding it out for inning after inning after inning, and I give her a ton of credit that she lasted as long as she did as well,” Schoenly said. “She was stable on the mound, then people could just worry about what they were doing. She’s just a good, strong person out there for them. Good presence.”
Freshman right-hander Allison Smith earned three wins last time out, and she kept up her near one-strikeout-per-inning rate with 24 in 24.1 innings pitched. Smith and Buresch have anchored an Ohio State pitching staff that holds a 1.97 ERA and .212 opponent batting average, both seventh best in the Big Ten.
Sophomore left fielder Tegan Cortelletti paced the Buckeyes offense through their last six games with 11 hits, more than double what she recorded the first weekend of the season.
Outside of Cortelletti, though, Ohio State has had a tough go at the plate. The Buckeyes’ .218 batting average is sixth lowest in the conference and their 30 runs scored is third fewest.
As the Buckeyes square off with the Terrapins for a four-game set, Cortelletti pointed to the team’s need to adapt on a game-by-game basis as a key to success against Maryland.
“We’ve got to do something that we’re not used to or do something different in our at-bats or pitching so they can’t catch onto our tendencies,” Cortelletti said. “Just making sure that we’re doing something different every time and what we’re doing they’re not ready for, they don’t expect it, so we can try to use the surprise factor.”
The Terrapins enter with a top-five offense and pitching staff in the conference behind their collective .252 batting average and 1.20 ERA.
Freshman outfielder Jaeda McFarland and junior catcher Gracie Voulgaris are each hitting over .400 within the Maryland batting order, while sophomore right-handers Trinity Schlotterbeck and Courtney Wyche each have sub-1.00 ERAs.
Ohio State sophomore catcher Sam Hackenbracht may also be kept busy behind the plate. Maryland has stolen the third-most bases in the Big Ten with 26, but Hackenbracht has caught seven runners stealing this season, most in the conference.
Schoenly said that although the team holds a .500 record, the team recognizes that there is still work to be done.
“We have higher standards than that and higher goals than that, and so they’re pushing each other. I think it’s definitely helped our chemistry and the team moving forward,” Schoenly said. “I think that they’re having more fun with it because I think they’re not focusing on their own stats or their own performance, it’s like, ‘What are we going to be able to accomplish as a group?’”
As 12 Buckeyes will make their Buckeye Field debut, Cortelletti said when she takes the field on Friday, it will remind her of her visits when she was younger.
“It is honestly surreal for me because being a local kid I came since I was 9 years old. I have been watching at that field in the stands,” Cortelletti said. “Being the one that gets to be on that field and have those little girls and families coming to watch me, it’s a surreal moment. Even though there is limited fans, it doesn’t take away from the memories I’m gonna make on this field.”
First pitch at Buckeye Field will be thrown Friday at 3 p.m. All four games will be broadcast on BTN+.
