Michigan and Michigan State Softball Visit Columbus This Weekend – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 18, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State softball team (21-16; 2-4 Big Ten) will play host to both Big Ten state of Michigan team this weekend. The games against Michigan will take place April 18 and April 19 at 3 p.m. and noon, respectively, at Buckeye Field. The Buckeyes face the Spartans of Michigan State in a doubleheader beginning at noon April 20.
ABOUT MICHIGAN
Michigan is leading the Big Ten with a 7-1 conference mark and an overall 29-8 record. The Wolverines are led by Meghan Doe, who is hitting .348 (40-115), Melinda Moulden, who bats .333 (40-120) and Monica Schock, Marissa Young and Tiffany Haas, who average .317, .312 and .310, respectively. Moulden and Haas are leading the team with 24 runs apiece, while Young is the team leader with 10 homeruns.
Young and Nicole Motycka are the strength from the mound for Michigan as the two combine for 26 wins and just six loses. Young has a 1.15 ERA and Motycka carries a 1.09 ERA.
MICHIGAN’S CAROL HUTCHINS
Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins is in her 19th season with the Wolverines and has established herself as the winningest coach in the history of Michigan athletics with 777 career victories entering the 2003 season.
Under Hutchins’ guidance, the Michigan softball program has claimed eight of the last 11 Big Ten regular-season championships and earned trips to 10 NCAA National Championship Tournaments (1992, ’93, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, 2000, ’01, ’02). Michigan advanced to the NCAA Women’s College World Series in 1995, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’01 and ’02. The Wolverines finished a program-best fifth in the NCAA Women’s College World Series in both the 1997 and ’98 seasons.
ABOUT MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State is 27-11 and 6-3 in conference play, which ranks the Spartans fourth among league leaders. Sandy Lewis owns a .363 clip, followed by Elizabeth Peterson, Natalie Furrow, Tiffany Wallace and Brittney Green, who are averaging .363, .324, .319, .304 and .301, respectively. The scoring responsibility is evenly divided among the MSU players, with Lewis, Green and Margaret Schick leading the way with 27, 24 and 22 scores, respectively.
With an impressive 20-4 record and a 0.76 ERA, which is the best in the Big Ten, pitcher Jessica Beech has been a force to reckon with for Michigan State.
MICHIGAN STATE’S JACQUIE JOSEPH
Michigan State head coach Jacquie Joseph in her 10th season at the helm of the Spartan program and entering the 2003 season, had guided MSU to a record of 277-248 and two NCAA Regional appearances. In addition, players have earned All-America honors three times and First-Team All-Big Ten recognition on seven occasions. Joseph, who is MSU’s all-time winningest coach, earned her 400th career coaching victory last season and entering the 2003 season had a 413-381 overall record including a five-year stint at Bowling Green prior to coming to MSU.
KALAFATIS ON THE WEEKEND
“We obviously have two tough opponents this weekend and we need to come up with some big wins, so we’ll have to play our best softball. If we do that, we’ll be right back in the hunt of the things in the Big Ten. I like the way this team has responded lately. We’ll need to have great games from Kristi (DeVries) and Katie (Chain) again and we’ll have to have timely hitting if we expect to win the series this weekend.”
SENIORS TOP THE HISTORY BOOKS WITH 150
With two wins at Ohio April 16, the 2003 senior class, which consists of Kristine Himes, Jennifer Link, Elizabeth Kacsanek, Rogeanna Hottinger and Katie Chain, became the all-time winningest class in school history with 150 wins, breaking the mark of 149 set by the class of 2002 last season.
FOUR MORE WINS TO 500
Ohio State head coach Linda Kalafatis needs four more wins to reach 500 career victories. Currently, Kalafatis is 496-273-2 (14 years) overall and 222-159-0 (seven years) with the Buckeyes.
BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Ohio State swept Ohio Wednesday and broke a four-game losing streak. The Buckeyes, who had not scored in four games, made up for lost time and scored a combined 15 runs while holding the Bobcats to two total scores.
DEVRIES REACHES 100 K’S
Junior Kristi DeVries was credited with the win in game one vs. Ohio and the eight strikeouts she tallied brought her season total to 100 K’s. This is the second consecutive season DeVries has earned at least 100 strikeouts. Last season, the Corona, Calif., native totaled 102 strikeouts.
EVANS’ OFFENSE COMING THROUGH
Sophomore Karisa Evans’ offense is making a name for herself among Big Ten leaders. Her team-leading 27 runs ranks the Franklin, Ohio, native tied for seventh among Big Ten leaders and her .368 average is tied for fifth in the conference.
AND THE STRIKES JUST KEEP ON COMING …
Katie Chain, Ohio State’s career strikeout leader with 664, 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 RUN DERBY
The Buckeyes have been a tear recently, having hit 15 home runs in 27 games, including two vs. Ohio (Ashley Cutcliff and Rogeanna Hottinger) in game two Wednesday night. Senior Amy Ellis hit the most recent long ball, the first of her career, in the 10-3 loss at Northwestern Saturday. Leading the way in the homer category is senior Kristine Himes with eight. Sophomore Ashley Cutcliff is next with four followed by Rogeanna Hottinger with three. Ellis, Karisa Evans, Jennifer Johnson and Beth McAbier each have one.
HIMES HONORED
Kristine Himes was named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week April 1 for her performance against Indiana. The weekly honor is the third this season for Himes and the fourth overall for the Buckeyes.
Himes, Ohio State’s career home run leader (40), batted .667 in two conference victories against Indiana (8-1, 9-0) March 28-29. Himes went 4-for-6 with a double, one home run (a two-run shot) and six RBI’s in the two games. She recorded eight total bases for a 1.333 slugging percentage and also stole a base in the Saturday win. The Buckeyes outscored the Hoosiers 17-1 in the two games.
Himes is batting .324 with a team-leading nine home runs and 28 RBI’s to compliment her .667 slugging percentage.
EARLY OFFENSE
The Buckeyes have done a majority of their damage offensively early in games. They have scored 97 of their 149 runs this year in the first three innings, 75 of which have been in the second and third innings. The Buckeyes are outscoring the opposition 149-85 and are averaging 4.03 runs per contest.
CLOSE CALLS
The Buckeyes are no strangers to close contests as 16 games this season have been decided by one run. Ohio State is 5-9 in one-run games, 2-2 in two-run games and 4-6 against ranked opponents.
CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY
Karisa Evans and Kristine Himes are the only two Buckeyes to have started all 37 games this season. Kristi DeVries and Rogeanna Hottinger have each started all of the 35 games in which they have played.
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 .368 on the year and has recorded at least one hit in 28 of the 37 games, including 14 multiple hit games. She has one home run, one triple, eight doubles and 15 RBI’s to her credit and leads the team in runs scored with 27.
Dedic is batting 25-for-75 (.333) with 13 RBI’s and four doubles. Himes, the Big Ten player of the Week March 3,14 and April 1, is batting .324 and leads the team in home runs (8) and RBI’s (28). She also has two triples, nine doubles and 16 runs scored. Cutcliff is hitting .317 this season with eight RBI’s, four home runs and three doubles.
Back in the Buckeye lineup is third team All-American Jennifer Link. In her first weekend back at Northwestern, Link batted .333 with two hits and a run scored. She is batting .289 on the year and is leading the team with 10 stolen bases (in 11 attempts). Meghan Rowlands has seven stolen bases to add to the Buckeye base thieves’ tally.
Chain and DeVries are leading the way in the circle as they have combined for 233 of the teams’ 274 strikeouts. Chain is 9-9 with a 1.33 ERA and 133 K’s in 20 appearances. DeVries is 9-6 with a 1.22 ERA and 100 K’s.
OHIO RECAP
Ohio State swept Ohio Wednesday afternoon in Athens.
In the first game, OSU snapped a four-game losing skid with a 6-1 victory over Ohio. Junior Kristi DeVries was terrific for the Buckeyes, striking out eight batters while allowing just two hits, no walks and zero runs over five innings. She also led the Buckeyes at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one double and one RBI.
The Bobcats were never able to get anything going offensively off DeVries. Ohio had a runner at second twice with one out, but good pitches and solid defense kept the Bobcats from capitalizing.
In game two, senior Katie Chain struck out 11 batters and 11 different Buckeyes recorded at least one hit as the Ohio State softball team swept the twinbill from OU. Ashley Cutcliff hit her fifth home run of the season to lead off the second and Rogeanna Hottinger hit her third of the year (a two run shot off the scoreboard in right-center) in the fourth.
NEXT UP
Ohio State travels to face the Gophers of Minnesota April 25 and 26 at 6 p.m. and noon in Minneapolis. The Buckeyes will then go to Madison, Wis., to take on the Badgers in a doubleheader beginning at noon April 27.
