Buckeyes Open Houston Invitational With 2-0 Win Over Baylor – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 15, 2002%^$
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%^$HOUSTON, Texas- The Ohio State softball team used stellar defense and a solid pitching performance from starter Katie Chain (Jr., North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) to win its opener, 2-0, over Baylor at the Houston Invitational played at the Houston Softball Complex in Houston, Texas, Friday. The Buckeyes (5-1) needed one swing of the bat from Sarah West (Sr., Galloway, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) to take an early lead and held on to it to send the Bears (10-2) to their second loss of the year.%^$
%^$”I thought Katie threw a great game for us today,” Linda Kalafatis, OSU head coach, said. “She was throwing her hard stuff and had great control of her change up and that really froze their hitters. Offensively, it was a big hit by Sarah but I was a little disappointed that we had a few more opportunities and did not score. Our defense and pitching made the lead stand up.”%^$
%^$OSU opened the came with four batters striding to the plate with Wendy Allen (So., Moreno Valley, Calif./Moreno Valley) reaching on a single but was stranded one batter later when Stacy Roth (Sr., Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) struck out swinging. BU’s leadoff hitter Kelly Levesque opened the bottom half of the inning with a single back up the middle of the infield and moved to third on two sacrifice bunts in a row. Levesque was stranded when Kristen Lancaster struck out swinging.%^$
%^$Chrissy Fowler (Sr., Utica, Ohio/Wright State) opened the second with a single to right field looking to score OSU’s first run. West stepped to the plate and greeted Bears’ ace Joni Miller with a towering blast over the fence in straightaway center field to give the Buckeyes the 2-0 lead. OSU’s next three batters went down in order to end the inning but the damage had been done. BU came out swinging to try and climb back into the game but Chain struck out the side in order to build the Buckeyes’ momentum.%^$
%^$”I thought I had better control than last weekend and I was hitting my locations,” Chain said. “The toughest part was probably after they had gone through their batting order twice and they knew how I threw. They came out a lot more aggressive and came after the first pitch more than the first times around. I think a win like today shows us we can win any game we play.”%^$
%^$In all, Chain struck out nine batters and allowing three hits and a walk in six innings pitched. Kristi DeVries (So., Corona, Calif./Corona) came on in relief of Chain with a runner on first and coaxed 3-of-4 batters faced to fly out and end the game. OSU committed no errors and, with the ptiching staff, allowed five batters to reach base. Offensively, Jennifer Link (Jr., Yorba Linda, Calif./Sonora) led the team with two hits and her team-high sixth stolen base.%^$
%^$The Buckeyes play twice Saturday with games at noon EST against Sam Houston State and at 6 p.m. EST against McNeese State. All games played Friday and Saturday will determine bracket seeds for action held Sunday.%^$
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%^$Exhibition Matches%^$ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E%^$Buckeyes 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 0%^$Bears 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1%^$
%^$WP: Katie Chain (2-0)%^$LP: Joni Miller (5-1)%^$SV: Kristi DeVries (1)>/pre>
