Buckeye Softball Upsets Host No. 19 Georgia Tech, 5-3, to Advance to Buzz Classic Championship Game – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 6, 2005
Box Score
MARIETTA, Ga. – Ohio State junior Chelsea Baker and sophomore Megan Schwab both hit two-run home runs and sophomore Jamee Juarez pitched five scoreless inning of relief as the Buckeye softball team (11-5) upset 19th-ranked Georgia Tech (19-5) Sunday, 5-3, in the semi-finals of the Yellow Jacket’s own tournament, the Buzz Classic, at the Al Bishop Softball Complex in Marietta, Ga.
Ohio State also knocked off Georgia Tech in the Buzz Classic in 2002 on the Buckeyes’ way to winning the tournament. OSU will face Iowa at 2:15 p.m. Sunday in the championship game. The win for Ohio State extends the Buckeyes’ season-best winning streak to seven games and is its first over a ranked team since knocking off No. 24 Cal State-Fullerton, 7-2, Feb. 29, 2004.
Schwab (Glendale, Ariz./Sunrise Mountain) hit her homer in the sixth inning to tie the game at 3-3, and Baker (Gahanna, Ohio/DeSales) hit her bomb in the top of the seventh inning to put the Buckeyes on top for good. The win is Ohio State’s second come-from-behind win of the season.
Juarez (La Puente, Calif./Wilson) pitched five innings of shutout relief to notch her fourth win of the tournament and seventh of the season. She totaled five strikeouts.
OSU freshman Brittany Vanderink (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood) tripled to lead off the sixth inning and scored one batter later when senior Karisa Evans (Franklin, Ohio/Franklin) singled up the middle. That brought Schwab to the plate, who delivered her fifth home run of the weekend to knot the score. It was Schwab’s eighth career round-tripper, while Baker’s homer was her second of the weekend and fifth of her career. Vanderink’s triple was her third of the season, moving her into a second-place tie for triples in a season by an Ohio State freshman. It marked the team’s eighth triple of the season, surpassing OSU’s total of seven triples all of last season in 60 games.
OSU freshman Liz Caputo (Riverside, Calif./Riverside Poly) doubled to lead off the seventh inning and start the Buckeye rally.
Georgia Tech senior pitcher Jessica Sallinger, who is on the watch list for the USA Softball National Player of the Year, struck out 10 Buckeyes in the game to move into 13th place on the NCAA’s all-time career strikeout list.
The Yellow Jackets scored two runs in the first inning, including a lead-off homer by Aileen Morales, to snap Ohio State’s 12-inning streak of holding opponents scoreless. GT added another run in the second inning but it would be the last time the Yellow Jackets would cross the plate.
