Buckeye Softball Hits Dayton With 6-1 Defeat – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 6, 2002%^$
%^$%^$%^$Box Score%^$%^$%^$%^$
%^$DAYTON, Ohio – The Ohio State softball team, led by the bats of Sarah West (Sr., Galloway, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson), Kristine Himes (Jr., Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) and Jennifer Link (Jr., Yorba Linda, Calif./Sonora), handed the Dayton Flyers a 6-1 defeat at Stuart Field in Dayton, Ohio, Wednesday in the first game either team had played in the state of Ohio this year. West had three hits with two solo home runs and Himes went deep with a solo shot of her own to help improve the Buckeyes’ record to 13-4 on the year and drop the Flyers to their seventh loss in a row.%^$
%^$The Buckeyes went on the offensive immediately to open the game knocking starter Carla Chaney out of the lineup after two-thirds of an inning. Link, who went 3-for-4 on the day, led off the inning with a bunt single on the first pitch Chaney threw. Anna Smith (Sr., Walnut, Calif./Diamond Bar) followed with a double to center field. The Flyer defense got the ball in and caught Link in a rundown between third and home to record the first out. Stacy Roth (Sr., Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) then doubled in Smith with a shot to center field to give OSU the 1-0 lead. Roth then stole third and came in to score on an errant throw while she was stealing. With a full count, West connected on a Chaney offering and drove the pitch well over the center field fence for the 3-0 lead.%^$
%^$With two outs in the inning, Himes stepped to the plate and followed West’s lead when she deposited a pitch over the left center fence on a full count pitch to bring the lead to 4-0. Himes leads the all-time home run race at OSU with 19 and Roth and West trail her with 17 and 15, respectively.%^$
%^$Ashlea Hoheimer came in to relieve Chaney and got the final out to end the Buckeye outburst. UD responded quickly with a run of its own. Kerry White led off with a double to left and moved to third on a Shannon St. Clair sacrifice bunt. Angie Barney then reached on a throwing error by OSU starter Katie Chain (Jr., North Canton, Ohio/Hoover) allowing White to score and cut the lead to 4-1.%^$
%^$OSU continued its offensive barrage in the next two innings but could not score. Link, Roth, West and Chrissy Fowler (Sr., Utica, Ohio/Wright State) all singled but were stranded to keep the Buckeye lead to three. The Flyers, however, could not capitalize as UD picked up its final two hits of the game in the second and third innings with no runs to show.%^$
%^$The Buckeyes crossed the plate once more in the next two innings. Rogeanna Hottinger (Jr., Newark, Ohio/Newark) opened the fourth with a first-pitch triple down the right field line and scored one batter later when Elizabeth Kascanek (Jr., Uniontown, Ohio/Green) doubled down the left line. OSU scored its final run of the game when West opened the fifth with her second home run, a high shot over the center field fence, to bring the score to 6-1. OSU collected the final three of its 16 total hits in the last three innings. Annie Dedic (Jr., Yorba Linda, Calif./Fullerton JC) single in the fifth, Hottinger singled in the sixth and Karisa Evans (Fr., Franklin, Ohio/Franklin), in front of a large group of supporters from nearby Franklin, Ohio, doubled down the left field line in the seventh.%^$
%^$Chain recorded 10 strikeouts, including three in a row in the fourth and two each in the fifth and seventh, to raise her record to 4-2 this year and tie Genice Turley (1994-95) for second on the all-time OSU wins list with 39. Jodi Dolan (1995-98) leads the program with 41 in her career.%^$
%^$OSU returns to action next week with a full slate of competition at Buckeye Field in Columbus. The Buckeyes open their homestand with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. Tuesday (March 12) against Kentucky. OSU also will play Oakland at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 14, before playing host to the 2002 Buckeye Invitational, March 15-17. Teams in the field this year include Seton Hall, Robert Morris, Kent State and the Buckeyes.
