Eight-Run Fourth Inning Fuels Ohio State to 12-3 Win Over South Dakota State – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 4, 2005
Box Score
MARIETTA, Ga. – The Ohio State softball team (7-5) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and then scored eight runs in the fourth inning to finish off South Dakota State (5-3) in five innings Friday night as the first day of the Buzz Classic hosted by Georgia Tech concluded at the Al Bishop Softball Complex in Marietta, Ga.
Ohio State junior Billie Jo Carder (Celina, Ohio/Celina) had her first career three hit game, going 3-for-3 with a double and three RBI. Her three runs batted in tied her career high. Junior Nicole Lancaster (Magnolia, Ohio/Sandy Valley) had her first two-hit game as a Buckeye.
Freshman pitcher Nicole Gragson (Long Beach, Calif./Wilson) picked up her first collegiate victory, working four innings and striking out three. Just one of her runs was earned.
The fourth inning saw the Buckeyes notch new season highs when they sent 13 batters to the plate, scored eight runs and had seven hits. Ohio State twice turned a first-and-third double-steal in the frame. In the fourth inning alone, freshman Brittany Vanderink (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood) set a career-high for hits in a game with two as she was 2-for-2 with a double, RBI and stolen base in the frame.
For the game, Ohio State’s 12 runs, 15 hits, four doubles and six stolen bases are all season-highs.
Ohio State scored all three of its runs in the first inning with two outs. Sophomore Megan Schwab (Glendale, Ariz./Sunrise Mountain) began the attack with her first home run of the season, a solo shot to center field, marking the fourth homer of her career. Sophomore Christina Douglas (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson) then doubled and senior Ashley Cutcliff (Zionsville, Ind./U. of Florida) singled, setting up junior Carder, who smacked a two-run single.
Back-to-back RBI doubles in the fourth inning by Schwab and Lancaster expanded the Buckeyes’ lead to 6-3. The double and RBI by Lancaster were her first as a Buckeye. Schwab later scored on a double-steal with Douglas to put OSU up, 7-3, and then Douglas scored herself on a second and home double-steal with freshman Liz Caputo (Riverside, Calif./Riverside Poly). Carder’s third single of the game scored Caputo to put the Buckeyes up, 9-3.
Still in fourth inning, junior Chelsea Baker (Gahanna, Ohio/DeSales) came off the bench to drill a two-run triple and then scored one batter later on Vanderink’s RBI double, her second hit of the inning, for OSU’s 12th and final run.
In relief of Gragson, Baker would strike out three SDSU hitters in the fifth inning to end the game.
Ohio State’s 12 runs and 15 hits are the most since the Buckeyes scored 14 runs and had 19 hits in a 14-4 win over North Carolina A&T March 12 of last season.
South Dakota State got on the scoreboard with three runs in the third inning, two of which were unearned. The Jackrabbits threatened to tie the game in the fourth inning, but OSU Caputo from centerfield threw out a SDSU runner at the plate, with senior catcher Natalie Hales (Canton, Ohio/Eastern Michigan) making the tag.
### GO BUCKS! ###
