Ohio State Tops Ball State, 10-2, as Buckeye Invitational Gets Underway – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 18, 2005
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State softball team (12-6) opened play in the 2005 Buckeye Invitational with a 10-2 win over Ball State Friday at Buckeye Field. Sophomore Megan Schwab notched her team-leading fifth multiple-hit game and sixth multiple-RBI game of the season with a 3-for-4 performance and two RBI, while sophomore Jamee Juarez went 2-for-3 with three RBI and struck out nine Cardinals in 5.1 innings on her way to collecting her eighth win of the season.
Ball State, coached by 1984 Ohio State graduate and four-year letterwinner for the Buckeyes Terri Laux, falls to 5-13.
Ohio State improves to 17-0 all-time in the Buckeye Invitational and will take on Eastern Michigan at 6:30 Friday.
Schwab (Glendale, Ariz./Sunrise Mountain) hit an RBI single in the second inning and added an RBI double in the fourth inning. Juarez (La Puente, Calif./Wilson) singled home a run in the first inning and drove in two runs with a double in the sixth inning. Her nine strikeouts matches her season-best outing and she allowed just three hits to win her sixth consecutive decision and see her record in the circle improve to 8-4.
After the Buckeyes’ three-run first inning, Ohio State scored one run in each of the next three innings before a three-run sixth inning sealed the win.
For the second time in her career, OSU sophomore Nycole Koyano (Walnut, Calif./Walnut) scored three runs in the game and her triple in the seventh inning was her fourth of the season. In the last 15 years of Ohio State softball, only four players have had four or more triples in a season and each of those four earned All-America honors, including Anna Smith in 2002, Julie Bauman in 1997, Jen Fredrickson in 1994 and Krinon Clark in 1992 and 1993.
Koyano added a double as the Buckeyes tied their season-high for doubles with four. Senior Ashley Cutcliff (Zionsville, Ind./U. of Florida), who also had one of those doubles, and freshman Liz Caputo (Riverside, Calif./Riverside Poly) added two hits apiece, as well, to the 13-hit Buckeye attack.
OSU junior Andrea Tribuzi (Plano, Texas/Plano East) pitched the final 1.2 innings in relief for the Buckeyes. She struck out one and did not allow a walk.
### GO BUCKS! ###
