No. 21/24 Softball Opens Big Ten Play At Home – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 28, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 21/24 Ohio State softball team (15-10) opens up Big Ten play as they play host to Indiana (10-12) and Purdue (21-12) this weekend. The Buckeyes and the Hoosiers will play at 3 p.m. Friday, March 28 and at noon Saturday, March 29. Games vs. the Boilers will start at noon and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 30. All contests will be held on Buckeye Field and all times are eastern.
ABOUT INDIANA
Under the leadership of first-year head coach Sara Hayes, the Hoosiers are 10-12 this season. Indiana is led offensively by Stormy Hanson, who is hitting .406, has a team-best 16 RBI’s and has scored 17 runs this season. Additionally, Valerie White and Heather Suca have recorded 17 and 12 runs, respectively, this season. Heather Stillians is 6-6 from the mound for IU with a 2.37 ERA.
INDIANA’S SARA HAYES
Sara Hayes is in her first season at the helm of the Indiana program. Hayes spent the last two seasons as the head coach at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. The 1995 Midwest Collegiate Conference Player-of-the-Year as a senior at Notre Dame, Hayes arrived at Northern Iowa in August of 2000 after a successful stint as an assistant coach at DePaul University in Chicago.
ABOUT PURDUE
Purdue is 21-12 overall and a perfect 6-0 at home. Andrea Hillsey is batting .466 and has 29 runs and 24 RBI’s to her name. Tricia Lilley is a force to reckon with offensively with eight home runs, 32 RBI’s and a Boiler-best 34 runs this year. Leighann Burke is 13-6 for the Boilermakers with a 2.17 ERA.
PURDUE’S CAROL BRUGGEMAN
Carol Bruggeman is in her 10th season as the head coach at Purdue. The only leader of the Purdue program, Bruggeman was hired in 1994 when softball was added to the Boilermaker athletics department. Entering the 2003 season, she had put together an overall 280-228-2 record with the Old Gold & Black.
Bruggeman came to Purdue from the University of Michigan, where she was an assistant coach from 1989 to 1993. Prior to her Michigan tenure, Bruggeman was a graduate assistant at Iowa, her alma mater, in 1988. A standout infielder with the Hawkeyes, she earned All-Big Ten and All-Mideast Region honors during her four-years in Iowa City.
KALAFATIS ON THE WEEKEND
“We are excited to start conference play; the heart of our softball season. We scheduled a tough preseason to prepare us for an even tougher Big Ten schedule. The conference race will prove to be one to remember as many of the usuals will battle and some of the building programs are making a strong national presence. Indiana is under a new coaching staff and building towards the future and Purdue is poised to fight to be in the top half of the conference. We have been anxiously preparing for this part of the season. We want to improve upon our success from last year.”
BIG TEN BEGINNINGS
The Buckeyes’ Big Ten season begins this weekend with Purdue and Indiana. Ohio State is 9-8 vs. the Boilermakers and 21-49-1 against Indiana in the all-time series.
Last year, Ohio State finished second with a 16-4 conference record. The Buckeyes’ 2002 finish was the highest under head coach Linda Kalafatis and the best for an Ohio State squad since 1990 when they won the Big Ten.
LAST YEAR VS. PURDUE
Ohio State won both games vs. Purdue last year in Columbus. They won 7-1 in the first game and rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning to score five runs and go ahead 6-5. After OSU had brought the score to 5-3, a triple by former Buckeye standout Anna Smith plated the final three runs of the game to put the Buckeyes on top for good.
LAST YEAR VS. INDIANA
Ohio State traveled to Bloomington, Ind., last season and returned to Columbus with two victories. The Buckeyes blanked the Hoosiers 8-0 in the first game and despite allowing two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, held on for a 5-4 win in the second game.
600 STRIKEOUTS AND COUNTING
Katie Chain, Ohio State’s career strikeout leader with 622, is the first Buckeye to reach 600 strikeouts. Chain reached her latest pitching milestone as she recorded her 600th career strikeout in a 4-2 win over Oakland March 15. She recorded nine strikeouts in the complete game and gave up only three hits over the seven innings.
HOME SWEET HOME
Ohio State is a perfect 4-0 at home this season after they won the Buckeye Invitational two weeks ago. OSU defeated Oakland twice (7-1; 4-2) and Morehead State (6-1; 14-0) to capture the title.
HOTTINGER HITS SECOND HR IN HAWAII
Senior Rogeanna Hottinger hit her second home of the season run last weekend in the Hawaii/Chevron Invitational. In the Buckeyes’ 10-4 loss to Hawaii on the last day of the tournament, Hottinger hit her second home run in the third inning. The Newark, Ohio, native has five career home runs.
LONG BALL
The Buckeyes have been a tear recently, having hit 11 home runs in as many games. Hottinger hit her second of the season in the loss to Hawaii and Cutcliff smacked a three-run shot in an exhibition game against Tokyo WCPE.
At the Buckeye Invitational, the Ohio State hit four in the final two games. Ashley Cutcliff blasted two and Kristine Himes one against Morehead State Sunday. Karisa Evans hit her first career home run, the game-winner, against Oakland to help OSU down the Grizzlies, 4-2.
The Buckeyes blasted six home runs in the double header at Kentucky March 5. In the first game, Kristine Himes, Ashley Cutcliff and Rogeanna Hottinger all left the park in the 10-2 win. Himes then hit two more dingers in the second game, one a three run shot in the second, and Jennifer Johnson followed up with a solo shot in the fifth.
EARLY OFFENSE
The Buckeyes have done a majority of their damage offensively early in games. They have scored 67 of their 100 runs this year in the first three innings, 53 of which have been in the second and third innings. The Buckeyes are outscoring the opposition 100-54 and are averaging four runs per contest.
CLOSE ONES
The Buckeyes are no strangers to close contests as 12 games this season have been decided by one run. Ohio State is 5-7 in one-run ball games and 4-4 against ranked opponents.
TEAM EFFORT
The Buckeyes’ offense is a team effort this season. Karisa Evans, Annie Dedic, Ashley Cutcliff and Kristine Himes are leading the way for Ohio State. Evans is batting .364 on the year and has recorded at least one hit in 16 of the 25 games, including eight multiple hit games. She has one home run, one triple, two doubles and 10 RBI’s to her credit and leads the team in runs scored with 17. Dedic is batting 16-for-45 (.356) with nine RBI’s and four doubles. Cutcliff is hitting .342 this season with five RBI’s, three home runs and two doubles. Himes, the Big Ten player of the Week March 3 and 14, is batting .319 and leads the team in home runs (7) and RBI’s (21). She also has two triples, five doubles and 11 runs scored.
HAWAII/CHEVRON INVITATIONAL RECAP
The Buckeyes went 1-4 last week in the Hawaii/Chevron Invitational, which was held in Honolulu. Ohio State beat Hawaii, 4-0, and fell to Wisconsin, 1-0, Pacific 1-0, Wisconsin, 3-1, (8 innings) and Hawaii ,10-4. Ohio State won an exhibition contest with Tokyo, 7-2.
SIX MORE TO GO
The 2003 senior class is six wins away from recording more wins than any other class in the history of Ohio State softball. The 2002 seniors set the mark last season, recording 149 wins over the last four years. The class of 2003 currently has 144 wins.
AUTOGRAPH SESSION
The Buckeyes will hold an autograph session following the doubleheader with Purdue Sunday, March 30.
NEXT UP
Ohio State takes Big Ten play on the road next week when they face No. 22 Northwestern at 3 p.m. ET April 4 and at noon ET April 5 in Evanston, Ill. The Buckeyes will continue their trip through Illinois with a Sunday (April 6) doubleheader vs. the Fighting Illini beginning at noon ET in Champaign, Ill.
