Buckeyes Headed Back to Florida for Six Games This Weekend
3/10/2021 7:05:20 AM | Softball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State softball team heads south for the second time in three weeks for six more Big Ten games to open its 2021 season. Ohio State is slated to face Wisconsin (Thursday-Friday) and Northwestern (Saturday-Sunday) in a pair of three-game series at the Leesburg Sports Complex in Leesburg, Fla.
The Schedule
Thursday, March 11 // Ohio State vs. Wisconsin (DH) // 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. // Watch: BTN Plus
Friday, March 12 // Ohio State vs. Wisconsin // 11 a.m. // Watch: BTN Plus
Saturday, March 13 // Ohio State vs. Northwestern (DH) // 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. // Watch: BTN Plus
Sunday, March 14 // Ohio State vs. Northwestern // 9 a.m. // Watch: BTN Plus
How to Follow the Action
All six games this weekend will be streamed on BTN Plus (subscription required). Twitter updates will also be available at @OhioStateSB. Links to the BTN Plus streams will be available each day by following the Buckeyes on Twitter, Facebook and the team’s schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
About the Badgers and Wildcats
- Northwestern was the only team in the Big Ten to win all six of its opening-weened games Feb. 26-28, going 6-0 against Penn State, Rutgers and Michigan State. The Wildcats are receiving votes in this week’s NFCA Top 25 poll and are No. 23 in the USA Softball/ESPN.com poll.
- Wisconsin went 3-3 during its opening weekend. The Badgers swept Penn State, lost twice to Indiana and split a doubleheader against Maryland.
Briefly on the Buckeyes
- Ohio State opened its season by winning three of six games Feb. 26-28 in Leesburg against Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.
- The Buckeyes took the opening game of each doubleheader. Five of the six games were decided by two or less runs with four one-run games.
- Ohio State’s pitching staff finished the season’s opening weekend with a 1.54 combined earned run average.
- Senior Peyton Buresch logged a team-high 24.0 innings and surrendered just three earned runs. Her best performance came in the opening game against Minnesota, pitching 10.1 innings without an earned run in a 2-1 11-inning victory.
- Buresch was 2-0 on the weekend and pitched the Buckeyes to a 4-2 triumph over Nebraska in the opening game of a doubleheader on Sunday.
- Teammate Allison Smith, a freshman, made her Ohio State debut and went 18.1 innings over the first weekend with a win and a save.
- She started the season with a nine strikeout performance against Iowa in a 3-2 win. Smith also picked up a save versus Minnesota, striking out the final two batters of the game in the bottom of the 11th inning.
- The star at the plate – and on defense – in the first weekend was sophomore Mariah Rodriguez. She batted a team-best .400 and drove in all four runs in the 4-2 win over Nebraska.
- Rodriguez also helped her defense turn four double plays in the first six games.
- Niki Carver hit a three-run home run in the opening game against Iowa. It was the 13th home run of her career.
An Ohio Flavor
- Exactly 50 percent of Ohio State’s roster – 12 of 24 players – hail from the state of Ohio.
- Five of those 12 are from the central Ohio area: Emily Ruck (Westerville), Megan McMenemy (Westerville), Tegan Cortelletti (Hilliard), Hannah Bryan (Columbus), and Lindsey Potter (Plain City).
- Five different states are represented on Ohio State’s 2021 roster: Ohio (12), California (eight), Georgia (two), Indiana (one) and Illinois (one).
More on Buresch
- Payton Buresch has only started 12 games in her Ohio State career after spending her first two seasons at James Madison, but in her short time with the Scarlet and Gray she’s made an impact.
- Buresch had a team-best 1.99 earned-run average in a COVD-shortened 2020 season. That included seven wins and eight complete games.
- Her 0.88 ERA through six games is the fifth-best in the Big Ten among pitchers with 19.0 or more innings pitched.
- Buresch has a 1.73 ERA in her career as a Buckeye with a 9-4 record in 105.0 innings.
- Including her two years as James Madison (2018-19), Buresch has a 33-10 career record, 1.83 earned run average and .231 career batting average against.
Back to Buckeye Field
- Following this weekend’s games in Florida, Ohio State has an off week before opening its home schedule March 26-28 by hosting Maryland for four games.
- When first pitch against the Terrapins is thrown on March 26, 698 days will have passed since the last time Ohio State played a game at Buckeye Field (April 28, 2019).
- Fifteen of the 26 players on Ohio State’s roster have never played a regular season game at Buckeye Field.
Power Ball
- Ohio State has been one of the Big Ten’s most consistent offensive teams over the past seven full seasons (2013-19).
- In that span, it has never batted lower than .264 as a team hit .288 or higher six times.
- Since 2015, the Buckeyes have hit at least 57 home runs every season.
- In six of the last seven seasons, Ohio State’s finished with 75 or more doubles as a team.
Don’t Forget About the Pitchers
- Ohio State’s pitching staff has had a sub-3.00 earned run average in each of the last three full seasons (2017-19).
- In that span, they’ve tossed 31 shutouts.
- During the 2018 and 2019 seasons, opponents failed to hit above .220 against Buckeye pitchers (.212 in 2018, .218 in 2019).
