Softball Ends 2000 Regular Season – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 5, 2000
%^$Columbus, Ohio – The Ohio State Buckeyes battle the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday ( 2p.m.) and Sunday (noon) in the final Big Ten weekend series. The top six teams in the conference standings will advance to the Big Ten Tournament, May 11-13.%^$
%^$THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
%^$Ohio State is currently tied for eighth place in the conference standings. To advance to the tournament, the Buckeyes must sweep Penn State, have Indiana defeat Purdue in two games and Michigan sweep Michigan State this weekend.%^$
%^$SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS
%^$Under the fourth-year head coach Robin Petrini, the Nittany Lions are 32-15 overall and10-5 in the Big Ten. Last week, the Lions split with Iowa (L, 3-2, W, 2-1) and Northwestern (L, 3-2, W, 8-0). Karen Gulini has led Penn State with a batting average of .390, 48 hits and 28 runs scored. Gina Biachini leads the conference with 37 stolen bases this season.%^$
%^$ALL-TIME SERIES
%^$The Buckeyes leads the all-time series with a 26-17 record against the Nittany Lions. Last year, Ohio State split with Penn State, winning the first game, 5-2, but falling in the second game, 9-3. Head coach Linda Kalafatis has a career mark of 8-3 against Penn State.%^$
%^$FIVE KEY FACTORS FOR THE BUCKEYES
%^$* Anna Smith – Smith has broken the OSU single-season record with 35 thefts this season, placing her second in the conference.%^$
%^$* Kristine Himes – She has stepped it up in the last six games, not only playing at the catcher position, but also posting a .295 batting average, 13 hits and eight RBI in conference action.%^$
%^$* Toni Hileman – Having to replace Chrissy Fowler and Stacy Roth in the lineup, Hileman has come on strong for the Buckeyes, batting .333 with two hits and two runs batted in.%^$
%^$* Jennifer Link – She leads the freshman class with a batting average of .293, 46 hits and 20 runs batted in.%^$
%^$* PITCHING STAFF – They have set a team record in strikeouts with 263 this season.%^$
%^$LAST TIME OUT
%^$The Buckeyes defeated non-conference foes, Oakland on Tuesday in a doubleheader, 6-1 and 5-0. Ohio State then swept Robert Morris, 1-0 and 8-0 on Wednesday. Kristine Himes led the Buckeyes, notching two home runs, going 6-for-13, six hits and four runs batted in during the series.%^$
%^$KALAFATIS POSTS 100TH WIN
%^$With Ohio State’s win over Robert Morris, 1-0, head coach Linda Kalafatis recorded her 100th win at Ohio State. She now has a 101-110 OSU record and a 374-225-2 career mark.%^$
%^$WEIGEL’S CAREER MARK
%^$Against Iowa on April 29, Renae Weigel blasted her 13th home run of her career to capture first place on Ohio State’s all-time home run list. She is also currently tied for fourth place on the career RBI list with 90 and only needs seven more to break the record held by Nicole Paloney.%^$
%^$LAST TWO GAMES FOR SENIORS
%^$Renae Weigel and Toni Hileman will be competing in their last two games as Buckeyes. Weigel currently holds a .278 BA, 35 hits and 19 runs batted in. She has competed in 204 games and has collected 159 hits, 48 runs and 90 runs batted in. In her three years as a Buckeye, Toni Hileman has led the team with 30 wins, 121 strikeouts in 74 appearances. This season she currently holds a 6-8 record and a 2.91 ERA.%^$
%^$HITTIN’ HIMES
%^$Kristine Himes began the month of April with a .257 batting average, since then she has improved her BA to .297, with 42 hits, a freshman record of 10 home runs and 35 runs batted in this season. Most recently, she has been on a terror, batting .368 with six hits, two home runs and four runs batted in.%^$
%^$SMITH BREAKS THEFT RECORD
%^$With her two stolen bases against Wright State on April 25, Anna Smith set an OSU single-season record for steals. She has since tallied more with a total of 35 this season. She now has a career mark of 44 steals, tying her for second place on the all-time OSU record list.%^$
%^$KEEP THEM COMING
%^$Kristine Himes set a single-season record for home runs against Minnesota on April 21, breaking the record of six held by teammate Renae Weigel. Himes has now added four more with her blasts against Northwestern, Oakland and Robert Morris.%^$
%^$GOING, GOING, GONE
%^$With two home runs over the past weekend and another from Kristine Himes yesterday, the Buckeyes have now tallied a team record of 27 this season. This breaks the 1997 team record for home runs of 18.%^$
%^$MORE ON HOME RUNS…
%^$The Buckeyes have blasted five homes in the last eight conference games, totaling eight as a team in the Big Ten.%^$
%^$OTHER TEAM RECORDS
%^$Ohio State only needs seven more steals as a team to break the record of 89 set in 1998. Sophomore Anna Smith leads the Buckeyes with 35 this season. The pitching staff has posted a record 263 strikeouts this season, breaking the 1994 record of 225.%^$
%^$RANKED IN CONFERENCE PLAY
%^$As a team, Ohio State is ranked sixth in batting with a .272 batting average. Ohio State is batting .272 in the Big Ten. Individually, Stacy Roth is forth with a .386 BA, 49 hits and 36 runs batted in. Anna Smith is second in the conference with a total of 35 stolen bases and first in runs with 39.%^$
%^$BIG TIME CONFERENCE
%^$In the April 26 USATODAY/NFCA Poll, the Big Ten Conference has two teams ranked in the Top 15. Michigan and Iowa are ranked No. 13 and No. 15, respectively. As a conference, the Big Ten ranks fifth in the nation with a batting average of .274 and seventh with an ERA of 2.27.%^$
%^$FROM THE TRAINING ROOM
%^$The team leader in batting and runs batted in, Stacy Roth, has missed the last 11 games because of flu-like conditions, but as of yet has not been diagonosed.%^$
%^$CAPTAIN WEIGEL
%^$Senior Renae Weigel was named by her teammates as captain of the 2000 softball team. As the only Buckeye who has been at Ohio State all four seasons, Weigel will resume her role as Ohio State’s top hitter and leader of the squad. Last season, the Coldwater, Ohio native had another breakout season, posting a then single-season home run mark with six and finishing third overall in both batting average (.301) and conference BA (.324).%^$
%^$ADDITION TO THE COACHING STAFF
%^$Jaime Chenevey returns to the Buckeyes this season as an assistant coach. She was a four-time letterwinner and was selected as a second-team all-Big Ten selection as the Buckeyes’ catcher. She still holds the No. 2 spot on the Ohio State career home run ladder with nine. Last summer, she competed on the Akron Racers of the Women’s Professional Softbal League with former Buckeye Jodi Dolan. She is a graduate student of Ohio State in agriculture education. .%^$
%^$PACK THEIR BAGS AGAIN
%^$Ohio State will be on the road for the second-straight weekend as it takes on Penn State in a two-game series on Saturday and Sunday.%^$
%^$ON DECK IN 2001
%^$Coach Kalafatis signed one of the best recruiting classes in the nation to be added next season. Wendy Allen (Moreno Valley, Calif.), Kristi DeVries (Corona Calif.) and Beth McAbier (Carrollton, Ohio) all signed letters of intents to attend Ohio State in 2001. Allen, a left-hand pitcher, was one-of-16 players in the nation to be named a National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association All-American. DeVries is a high school All-American pitcher who notched a 24-6 record last season with 321 strikeouts and 23 walks. McAbier, a shortstop, was a two-time all-conference pick and three-sport student-athlete at Carrollton High School.%^$
%^$LET’S CELEBRATE
%^$Ohio State will celebrate its 10-year anniversary of the 1990 Big Ten Championship this year. In 1990, Ohio State captured a 39-25 record, defeating Iowa to win the conference championship and head to the NCAA Tournament.
