Evans, Chain Lead No. 18 Softball Past Oakland, 4-2 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 16, 2003
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio– Katie Chain (Sr., North Canton, Ohio) reached yet another pitching milestone Sunday as the No. 18 Ohio State softball team (14-6) defeated Oakland, 4-2, to claim the championship of the 2003 Buckeye Invitational. Chain recorded her 600th career strikeout in the fourth inning and Karisa Evans (So., Franklin, Ohio) hit her first career home run, a two-run shot off the right-center scoreboard in the fifth. The win extends the Buckeye winning streak to nine games.
“That is an impressive individual accomplishment. Katie was one of the ones who came in and contributed right away as a freshman four years ago, “Linda Kalafatis, OSU head coach, said. “Too see what she, Jenn, Kristine, Liz and Rogeanna have accomplished during their time at Ohio State is equally as impressive as Katie getting her 600th strikeout. I’m real proud of the individual accomplishments Katie and the others have achieved.”
The Buckeyes had to battle against the stingy Golden Grizzlies as Oakland took a 2-0 lead in the third. A nice balance of solid pitching and timely hitting, though, allowed the Buckeyes to fight back and pull out the 4-2 win.
With the game tied at 2-2 and one runner on, Evans drove a Julie Anderson pitch off the right-center scoreboard to solidify the win for Ohio State. After giving up two runs in the third, Chain settled down to shutout the Grizzlies by allowing just one hit over the final four innings.
Oakland struck first in the third by ways of a Nina Catanzaro single and an Ohio State error. After the Catanzaro single, Linnea Utecht reached on an error by OSU second baseman Jennifer Johnson (So., La Mirada, Calif.) while Catanzaro rounded third and scored on play. Oakland’s Megan Pair then followed up with a single through the right side to score Utecht and give Oakland the 2-0 advantage. The Buckeyes came back to tie the game in the bottom half of the third when Kristine Himes (Sr., Bolivar, Ohio) delivered a two-out, two RBI double left-center, scoring Billie Jo Carder (Fr., ) and Evans who had previously reached on a walk and single, respectively.
Chain, OSU’s career strikeout leader (602) recorded the win to improve to 5-3 on the year. She scattered three hits over seven innings and struck out nine.
Himes was named the MVP of the Buckeye Invitational as she went 8-for-13 (.615) with three doubles, a triple, one home run, six RBI’s and two runs scored in the four wins.
“It was a great weekend and a total team effort,” Himes said. “My teammates are the ones to thank for this award. They make it all possible. I just hope we can carry this momentum into the Hawaii tournament and into the Big Ten season.”
The Buckeyes will be in action again this weekend in Honolulu, Hawaii as they take part in the University of Hawaii/Chevron Invitational March 20-23. Ohio State will face Tokyo and Nattaidai (Japan) in two exhibition contests and Wisconsin, Pacific and Hawaii in the other games.
Buckeye Invitational Results:
Saturday, March 15
Game 1: Oakland 3, Morehead State 2
Game 2: Ohio State 7, Oakland 1
Game 3: Ohio State 6, Morehead State 1
Sunday, March 16
Game 4: Morehead State 4, Oakland 2
Game 5: Ohio State 14, Morehead State 0
Game 6: Ohio State 4, Oakland 2
All Tournament Team
Kristine Himes, OSU (MVP)
Annie Dedic, OSU
Chelsea Baker, OSU
Katie Chain, OSU
Karisa Evans, OSU
Ashley Cutcliff, OSU
Erica Judge, OU
Erika Burns, OU
Nicole Marzano, OU
Natalie Owens, MSU
Jill Sloan, MSU
