No. 20/23 Softball Travels To Northwestern and Illinois – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 2, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 20/23 Ohio State softball team (17-10, 2-0 Big Ten) will look to stay unbeaten in conference play as it journeys to Northwestern (18-10, 0-4) and Illinois (23-7, 2-2) this weekend. The Buckeyes and Wildcats will square off at 3 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday in Evanston, Ill. before heading south to Champaign, Ill. for a noon doubleheader Sunday with the Fighting Illini.
Himes Honored
Kristine Himes was named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week Tuesday for her performance last weekend against Indiana. The weekly honor is the third this season for Himes and the fourth overall for the Buckeyes. Himes shared the honor with Michigan State’s Elizabeth Peterson.
Himes, Ohio State’s career home run leader (40), batted .667 in two conference victories against Indiana (8-1, 9-0). 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 .346 with a team-leading eight home runs and 27 RBI’s to compliment her .782 slugging percentage.
About Northwestern
The Wildcats are enjoying a solid season thus far as they are 18-10 overall, though 0-4 in Big Ten play as of April 2. Before conference play began, the Wildcats had won 10 of their last 11 games. They then lost two games each at Michigan State and at Michigan last weekend. The Wildcats have defeated four teams in the current ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 poll including No. 3 Washington (6-5), No. 7 California (4-3), No. 24 Oregon State (4-3) and No. 25 UMass (9-6).
The Wildcats are led by Brett Nakabayashi and Erin Mobley, both of whom are batting .366 or higher and are tied with a team 34 hits each through April 2. Nakabayashi is batting .366 with 18 runs, six RBI’s and a team-leading 93 at bats. Mobley is batting .378 with five doubles, four triples, one home run and 11 RBI’s. Cindy Muran is tied for the team lead with two home runs and has a team-leading 17 RBI’s.
Courtnay Foster and Lauren Schwendimann head up the Wildcat pitching staff. Foster is 9-5 with a 1.62 ERA. She also has a team leading 128 strikeouts in 99.1 innings. Schwendimann is 5-4 with a 2.35 ERA she has 57 K’s and just 13 walks in 59.2 innings of work.
NU Coach Kate Drohan
Kate Drohan is in her second season at the reins of the Northwestern softball program after serving under head coach Sharon Drysdale for four seasons. She led the Wildcats to a 24-18-1 in 2002 including a 10-9 finish in the Big Ten.
The Series Vs. Northwestern
The Buckeyes are 23-49-1 all-time against the Wildcats and have won the last four meetings between the two schools. Ohio State took both games at Northwestern last season as they defeated the Wildcats 12-4 and 3-1. Coach Kalafatis is 9-6 all-time against Northwestern.
About Illinois
The Illini are 23-7 and 2-2 in conference play through April 2. They are led offensively by freshman Rachelle Coriddi who is batting .351 with a team-leading 39 hits and 111 at bats. She also leads the team in stolen bases with 16. Erin Montgomery leads the team in home runs (6) and RBI’s (23). Janna Sartini has four homers while Jenna Hall and Katie O’Connell each have three for Illinois.
Amanda Fortune, Illinois’ all-time strikeout leader, is the No. 1 starter for Illinois with a 14-5 record. She has 68 strikeouts in 113 innings of work. (stats through April 2)
Illinois’ Terri Sullivan
Terri Sullivan is in her fourth year at the helm of Illinois softball. She has 119-71 overall through April 2. In three years she has led a group of underclassmen to two top-five finishes in the Big Ten.
Sullivan started her coaching career at the University of Illinois-Chicago where she served as a graduate assistant in 1992 and as an assistant coach from 1993-96. In 1997 she was promoted to associate head coach before she took over at Illinois in 1999.
The Series With Illinois
Ohio State owns the all-time series with Illinois, 7-5, and have taken the last four of five. The two teams last met in the 2002 Big Ten Tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich. where the Buckeyes prevailed, 5-0. Coach Kalafatis is 4-1 all-time against Illinois.
Dedic Enjoying 10-Game Hit Streak
Senior Annie Dedic is riding a 10-game hitting entering the Northwestern series. The streak is the longest of the year for the Buckeyes. Dedic is batting .367 on the year with four doubles and 10 RBI’s.
Indiana Recap
The Buckeyes took two games from the Hoosiers last weekend to open the conference season 2-0. Senior Katie Chain pitched six innings and struck out 10 batters and three Buckeyes had multiple hit games as Ohio State took the game one Friday with an 8-1 win at Buckeye Field. Sophomore Meghan Rowlands went 3-for-3 and senior Kristine Himes went 2-for-4 with three RBI’s on the day. Chain allowed six hits and no walks as she improved her record to 7-5 on the season. Indiana’s Katie Witham (4-7) went four innings and allowed four hits and three runs in the loss. Stormy Hanson went 2-for-3 with a run scored to lead IU offensively.
In game two Saturday the Buckeyes mercy-ruled the Hoosiers in five innings with a 9-0 win. After getting on the scoreboard early with two runs off a Kristine Himes homerun, a combination of seven more Buckeye scores in the third and fourth innings gave Ohio State a 2-0 start in Big Ten competition. Himes went 2-for-2, scored three times and earned three RBI’s vs. the Hoosiers today. Junior pitcher Kristi DeVries earned the win and is now 8-4 on the season. Indiana’s Katie Witham pitcher her second game in two days and fell to 4-8 overall.
Kalafatis The Weekend
“We are going to face the two fastest moving programs in the Big Ten. Illinois is benefiting from the maturity of players that started their program three years ago. They now have a lot of experience and play with a lot of poise and confidence.
“Northwestern has had a very good preseason and is a very dangerous team. They had a tough start to the Big Ten season, but they’re as good as any team in the conference. We will have to play our best softball if we want to have a successful weekend.”
Big Ten Beginnings
The Buckeyes’ Big Ten season began last weekend with two victories over Indiana.
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.
600 And Counting
Katie Chain, Ohio State’s career strikeout leader with 632, 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 6-0 at home this season, with two wins over Indiana (8-1; 9-0) and two victories each over Oakland (7-1; 4-2) and Morehead State (6-1; 14-0), which gave the Buckeyes the 2003 Buckeye Invitational title.
Home Run Derby
The Buckeyes have been a tear recently, having hit 12 home runs in 13 games.
Himes hit the most recent dinger in Saturday’s 9-0 win over Indiana. 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.
Early Offense
The Buckeyes have done a majority of their damage offensively early in games. They have scored 76 of their 117 runs this year in the first three innings, 60 of which have been in the second and third innings. The Buckeyes are outscoring the opposition 117-55 and are averaging 4.3 runs per contest.
Nail Biters
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. Entering this weekend, Karisa Evans, Annie Dedic, Ashley Cutcliff and Kristine Himes are leading the way for Ohio State.
Evans is batting .403 on the year and has recorded at least one hit in 18 of the 27 games, including 10 multiple hit games. She has one home run, one triple, four doubles and 11 RBI’s to her credit and leads the team in runs scored with 23.
Dedic is batting 18-for-49 (.367) with 10 RBI’s and four doubles.
Cutcliff is hitting .333 this season with six RBI’s, three home runs and three doubles.
Himes, the Big Ten player of the Week March 3 and 14, is batting .346 and leads the team in home runs (8) and RBI’s (27). She also has two triples, six doubles and 14 runs scored.
Chain and DeVries are leading the way in the circle as they have combined for 172 of the teams’ 204 strikeouts. Chain is 7-5 with a 1.20 ERA and 102 K’s in 15 appearances. DeVries is 8-4 with a 1.38 ERA and 70 K’s.
Four And Counting
The 2003 senior class is four 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 146 wins.
Next Up
Ohio State will face off at Akron at 7 p.m. April 9 before returning home at 3 p.m. Friday, April 11 as it plays host to Toledo in a doubleheader at Buckeye Field. The Buckeyes will then conclude their busy week of competition when they welcome Iowa for a doubleheader at noon Sunday April 13 at Buckeye Field.
