Softball Crushes Cleveland State, 12-1 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/16/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 16, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio– The scoreboard at Buckeye Field may have been deceiving, but it was the Ohio State softball team (12-8) – designated as the away team in game two of the Buckeye Invitational — who defeated the designated home team, Cleveland State, 12-1, forcing the game to be called on a mercy rule in the sixth inning.
The Buckeyes racked up a season-high 18 hits en route to the win. OSU had a slim 2-1 lead before breaking the game open in the final innings, scoring four runs in the fifth and six in the sixth. OSU totaled 12 hits in the final two innings.
Stacy Roth (Jr., Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) and Rogeanna Hottinger (So., Newark, Ohio/Newark) both went 3-for-4 from the plate. Anna Smith (Jr., Walnut, Calif./Diamond Bar), Wendy Allen (Fr., Moreno Valley, Calif./Moreno Valley), Kristine Himes (So., Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) and Sarah West (Jr., Galloway, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) went 2-for-4. OSU had a hit from different players on the roster.
Allen picked up the win for the Buckeyes, improving her record to 2-1. She struck out eight and gave up just four hits in six innings of work.
“That was almost unexplainable,” Linda Kalafatis, OSU head coach, said. “Everything we swung at fell in. We’ve been out-hitting a lot of teams, but we haven’t gotten them all in a row like that. I’m pleased with the way we played today.”
OSU fell behind in the early going, giving up a run to CSU in the bottom of the first. The Buckeyes knotted the score in the third when Roth doubled to left field to score Jenn Link (So., Yorba Linda, Calif./ Sonora) who had singled to third base.
The Buckeyes took their first lead in the top of the fourth inning. Allen singled to left field to open the Buckeye half of the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Chrissy Fowler (Jr., Utica, Ohio/Utica) moved Allen to second base. Allen moved to third on a groundout to short by Sarah West (Jr., Galloway, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) and scored when Hottinger singled to third.
The flood gates opened in the top of the fifth.
Roth singled to center field and scored on a single by Himes after a sacrifice bunt by Kristi DeVries (Fr, Corona, Calif./Corona) put her on second. Allen reached on an error and Fowler laid down a bunt to move Himes to third and Allen to second. West then singled to center field to score both Himes and Allen. A single to right center by Hottinger scored Fowler.
The next inning, Roth again started the rally, smacking a double to right field. She scored on a wild pitch after advancing to third on a DeVries single to left field. Himes singled to center field to put DeVries on third. Allen singled to left field to score DeVries. After Fowler walked, Beth McAbier (Fr, Carrollton, Ohio/Carrollton), pinch hitting for West, hit her first-career homerun, a three-run blast to center field.
Ohio State will face IUPUI tomorrow at 2 p.m.
