No. 25 Buckeyes Open Conference Play With 2-1 Victory at MSU – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 30, 2002
Box Score
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Stacy Roth (Sr., Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) deposited two pitches over the left field wall at Old College Field to give the No. 25 Ohio State softball team a 2-1, nine inning victory over the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing, Mich., Saturday. The game was originally slated for Friday but postponed until today because of rain a day earlier. Roth, the Big Ten Player of the Week for the week of March 19-26, connected on her ninth and 10th homers of the year to help OSU improve to 28-6 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten while the Spartans fell to 11-19 and 0-1 in the Big Ten.
“Before the game started and with the wind, I was going to try and hit the ball on the ground because I didn’t think I would be able to hit the ball out of the park,” Roth said. “It felt great to hit the home runs and help the team out. Now we have to go out tomorrow, play our game and get the job done against Michigan.”
Both teams went three up and three down in their respective halves of the first inning to bring Roth to the plate to open the second. Roth, with the wind blowing out to left, lined a Becky Gray offering just over the left field wall to give the Buckeyes a 1-0 lead. OSU pounded out four hits in the remaining five innings of regulation with nine base runners with no runs scored. MSU fared no better in the first four innings with two hits and five base runners.
The Buckeyes came close to adding more runs in the fourth. With two outs, Sarah West (Sr., Galloway, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) doubled off the left center wall, bringing Kristine Himes (Jr., Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) to the plate. Himes, the career home run leader at OSU, lifted a shot over the wall in left but the winds pushed the ball past the foul poll. Himes later struck out. After going down in order to open the fifth, the Spartans got on the board. With one out, Angel Merron hit into a fielder’s choice and advanced around the bases to tie the game at one. Both teams went scoreless with the Buckeyes having two close calls and nearly wining the game in both instances. With two down in the seventh, pinch hitter Kristi DeVries (So., Corona, Calif./Corona) launched a shot toward left field that cleared the wall but was just inches foul. In the eighth, Anna Smith (Sr., Walnut, Calif./Diamond Bar) came two feet from hitting her first home run of the year as the ball slammed off the right field wall for a triple. The Buckeyes could not respond and had to wait until the ninth.
In the ninth, Roth led off the inning with her second home run, also to left field, to put OSU ahead, 2-1. The Spartans could not respond as Katie Chain (Jr., North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) shut down the hosts coaxing MSU into a fly out and two ground outs for the win. Chain went the distance with four strikeouts while scattering six hits to improve to 10-3 on the year.
The Buckeyes travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., Sunday for a doubleheader with No. 13 Michigan. The twinbill is slated to begin at noon at Alumni Field.
