Softball Advances to Buckeye Invitational Championship – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/18/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 18, 2001
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio– The Ohio State softball team (14-8 overall) used a steady offensive barrage and a solid performance by pitcher Wendy Allen (Fr., Moreno Valley, Calif./Moreno Valley) to defeat Buffalo, 10-1, in a semifinal game of the Buckeye Invitational at Buckeye Field to advance to the championship game.
The Buckeyes will face Cleveland State, who defeated Indiana-Purdue, 12-0, in the other semifinal game.
OSU racked up 16 hits, the second highest output of the season behind an 18-hit performance against Cleveland State Saturday (3/17). Jenn Link (So., Yorba Linda, Calif./Sonora) and Kristine Himes (So., Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) led OSU with three runs batted in each.
Link was a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate with four base hits. Himes hit her third homerun of the season to tie Renae Weigel (1997-2000) with the OSU career-record of 13 homeruns. The record-tying blast to center field brought in three runs.
Anna Smith (Jr., Walnut, Calif./Diamond Bar) collected two hits in three plate appearances. Stacy Roth (Jr., Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) and Kristi DeVries (Fr., Corona, Calif./Corona) both went 2-for-4. In all, 10 Buckeyes joined in the hit-parade.
Allen allowed just two hits and one earned run while striking out eight in five inning of work. She improves to 3-1 with the win.
After Buffalo took a 1-0 lead in the second on the strength of the only two hits Allen would give up all afternoon, the Buckeyes answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Chrissy Fowler (Jr., Urbana, Ohio/Urbana) started the rally with a double down the left field line. Liz Kacsanek (So., Urbana, Ohio/Green) drove Fowler in with a single to center field. Smith followed with a single to shortstop to put Kacsanek on third base. Link brought in Kacsanek and Smith with a single to center field.
OSU added a run in the fifth inning when Allen doubled to left field and later scored on when Rogeanna Hottinger (So., Newark, Ohio/Newark) reached on an error by shortstop Marcie Ross.
The Buckeyes blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth with six hits on seven runs to end the game on the eight-run mercy rule.
Smith dropped a bunt and advanced to second on a throwing error by the catcher. Link singled to right field to score Smith. Link was caught off the base at first but DeVries and Roth singled to put two runners on base for Himes to clear with her record-tying homerun. Himes sent a line drive that cleared the fence in center, nearly knocking a cameraman off the platform he was stationed on. After Fowler walked and Annie Dedic (So., Yorba Linda, Calif./Fullerton J.C.) doubled to right center field, Breana Pozzi (Fr., Petaluma, Calif./Casa Grande) sngled to center field to score Fowler and Dedic to put the Buckeyes up 10-1 and put the eight-run mercy rule in effect to end the game.
The Buckeyes face Cleveland State in the championship at 4 p.m.
