Softball Rides DeVries 18 Strikeout Performance to 6-0 Win over Buffalo. – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/16/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 16, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio– Behind an outstanding effort from pitcher Kristi DeVries (Fr., Corona, Calif./Corona), the Ohio State softball (11-8) team defeated Buffalo, 6-0, in game one of the Buckeye Invitational at Buckeye Field.
DeVries was an overpowering presence in the pitching circle, striking out 18 batters, including 12 in a row. She struck out Buffalo centerfielder Breanne Nasti to end the top of the first and begin a string of strikeouts that would go uninterrupted until Bull catcher Kelly Malone reached first base on a walk with two outs in the top of the fifth. DeVries retired the side in order in the second third and fourth innings during the streak.
“Kristi, obviously, threw an awesome game,” Linda Kalafatis, OSU head coach, said. “Eighteen strikeouts, 12 in a row, that’s incredible.”
After chalking up another strikeout against first baseman Jessica Kensey to end the fifth, DeVries gave up a single to designated player Jennifer Moore to open the top of the sixth. The base hit to shortstop was the only hit DeVries would yield on the afternoon. She struck out the next two batters she faced to end the Bull half of the sixth and fanned two more batters in the seventh before walking a batter and ending the contest, appropriately, on a strikeout.
DeVries is now 6-3 on the season. Andrea Sage took the loss for the Bulls. She is now 1-7.
Jenn Link (So., Yorba Linda, Calif./Sonora) and Stacy Roth (Jr., Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) led the Buckeye offense. Link collected three hits and two runs batted in. Roth contributed two hits and three RBI.
OSU took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the third. Anna Smith (Jr., Walnut, Calif./Diamond Bar) led off with an infield single. She then stole second and reached third on a fly to leftfield by Link. Roth dropped a bunt to score Smith.
The score would remain 1-0 until the Buckeye bats came alive to put the game out of reach with five runs on five hits.
Kristine Himes (So., Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley, Ohio) smacked her second homerun of the season over the center field wall to open the inning. Himes now has 12 homeruns for her career, one behind Renae Weigel, who set the career-record last year with 13.
Rogeanna Hottinger (So., Newark, Ohio/Newark) hit a single to left field and Chrissy Fowler (Jr., Utica, Ohio/Utica) followed with a single to left field. Smith drew a walk to load the bases. Link then drove a single to center field to score Hottinger and Fowler to make the score 4-0. After Link swiped second, Roth singled to bring in Smith and Link to give OSU a 6-0 cushion.
“We were a little slow offensively, but it was really nice to see us come alive and put a really big inning together in the last inning,” Kalafatis said. ” That’s what we needed.”
