Softball Buckeyes Open Buzz Classic With 12-1 Defeat of Campbell – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/22/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 22, 2002
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State softball team connected on four home runs and starting pitcher Katie Chain (Jr., North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) allowed two hits in five innings as the Buckeyes won their seven game in a row with a 12-1 victory in five innings over Campbell in the opening game of the Georgia Tech/Buzz Classic in Atlanta, Ga., Friday. OSU moved to 21-5 on the year to record the 650th win in the history of the Buckeye program while the Camels slipped to 16-16. Stacy Roth (Sr., Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon), Chrissy Fowler (Sr., Utica, Ohio/Wright State), Wendy Allen (So., Moreno Valley, Calif./Moreno Valley) and Beth McAbier (So., Carrollton, Ohio/Carrollton) all went deep to propel the team to the win.
Jennifer Link (Jr., Yorba Linda, Calif./Sonora) led off the game with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. She came across to score the first run of the game when Anna Smith (Sr., Walnut, Calif./Diamond Bar) grounded out to short. With the 1-0 lead, the Buckeyes retired the side to set up their breakout inning. In the second, OSU batted around and plated eight runs. Fowler led off with a walk and was on first when the inning looked to be coming to a close on two ground outs in a row. Kristine Himes (Jr., Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) reached on an error and moved to second one batter later on a wild pitch pushing Fowler to third. Fowler came into score when Rogeanna Hottinger (Jr., Newark, Ohio/Newark) reached on an error. Hottinger stole second and pushed Himes to third when the hits rolled in.
Link picked up her second double to push home a run and was followed by an RBI single by Smith. Link came into score on a single by Allen while Smith stole two bases. With two runners on, Roth homered to bring in Smith and Allen and build an 8-0 run. Fowler came to the plate and launched a home run of her own to end the scoring and the innings pitching outing of starter Kathy Freaney. The Camels tried to fight back in the bottom half of the inning and recorded both of their hits in the inning to plate their lone run. Holly Harris doubled with one out and came into score one batter later when new pitcher Michelle Carey singled. Chain, who struck out the first batter of the inning, struck out the final two hitters of the inning.
CU went three and out in the third and fifth innings with three strikeouts recorded in the fourth inning and another pair in the final stanza to give Chain eight in the game. Chain, the Big Ten pitcher of the week, also hit a batter in the fourth.
After a quiet third inning, Allen, the Big Ten player of the week, added a run on her fifth home run of the year and that was followed up by a two run shot by McAbier, pinch hitting for Sarah West (Sr., Galloway, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) in the inning before taking over defensive duties at first, to end the scoring for the game and give the Buckeyes their largest margin of victory this year.
OSU also defeated the Princeton Tigers, 6-3, in their second game of the day to move to 22-5 on the year. No statistics were available.
The Buckeyes return to action with a pair of games in pool play at the Buzz Classic Saturday. OSU plays No. 20 Florida State at 1 p.m. and ends pool play with a 3 p.m. game against Central Florida. The Top 12 teams in the 24-team field advance to bracket play that is set to begin Sunday morning.
