Softball Faces Spartans in Doubleheader Sunday – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 19, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State softball team (22-17; 3-5 Big Ten) will play host to Michigan State (27-12; 6-4 Big Ten) in a doubleheader beginning at noon April 20.
POST-GAME AUTOGRAPH SESSION
After the doubleheader vs. Michigan State today, the Buckeyes will be available for an autograph signing session. Fans should line up outside the Ohio State dugout after the end of the second game vs. the Spartans to meet the Buckeyes.
MICHIGAN RECAP
Despite dropping game one to Michigan, 4-0, Friday afternoon, Ohio State rallied and broke a five-game losing streak against the Wolverines Saturday with a 4-0 victory. The Buckeyes’ win also snapped Michigan’s 14-game win streak. Pitcher Katie Chain was credited with the win and moved to 10-9 overall. Michigan’s Nicole Motyka is now 12-6 on the season.
The first five innings of the game was a defensive battle, but Ohio State opened up their offense at the top of the sixth and dominated. The Buckeyes, who had only recorded one hit the last 11 consecutive innings vs. Michigan, recorded four hits and four runs. Meghan Rowlands, Karisa Evans, Jenn Link and Kristine Himes all crossed the plate to give OSU the win over Michigan, who was leading the Big Ten entering the game.
The last time OSU beat Michigan was April 22, 2001 at home. The Buckeyes edged their neighbors from up north 3-2 after losing the day before, 2-1.
KALAFATIS ON THE MICHIGAN WIN
“Katie (Chain) and Annie (Dedic) executed our game plan and threw very well. We’ve been talking about keeping our composure throughout the entire game. Winning teams win at the end of a game. Our girls stepped up today and did that against a great team.”
ABOUT MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State is 28-12 and 7-4 in conference play, which ranks the Spartans fourth among league leaders. As of April 17, 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 (as of April 17), 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 overallrecord 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 151
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. The class moved to 151 victories with a 4-0 win against Michigan April 19.
THREE MORE W’S TO 500
Ohio State head coach Linda Kalafatis needs just three more wins to reach 500 career victories. Currently, Kalafatis is 497-276-2 (14 years) overall and 223-161-0 (seven years) with the Buckeyes.
BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK VS. OHIO
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 then-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. Currently, DeVries owns 103 K’s this year.
EVANS’ OFFENSE COMING THROUGH
Sophomore Karisa Evans’ offense is making a name for herself among Big Ten leaders. Her team-leading 28 runs ranks the Franklin, Ohio, native tied for seventh among Big Ten leaders and as of April 17 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 668, 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 29 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 .310 with a team-leading nine home runs and 29 RBI’s to compliment her .637 slugging percentage.
EARLY OFFENSE
The Buckeyes have done a majority of their damage offensively early in games. They have scored 97 of their 153 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 153-89 and are averaging 3.92 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 5-7 against ranked opponents.
CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY
Karisa Evans and Kristine Himes are the only two Buckeyes to have started all 39 games this season. Kristi DeVries and Rogeanna Hottinger have each started all of the 37 games in which they have played.
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.
