Spring Break Takes Ohio State to West Coast – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 21, 2006
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State softball team travels to Los Angeles on spring break this week for double-headers at Loyola Marymount Wednesday, Long Beach State Friday and Cal State Fullerton Saturday. The Buckeyes (12-10), who have four Los Angeles-area natives on their roster, are 6-2 in their last eight games and are coming off a 3-0 performance and championship of Buckeye Invitational in Columbus last weekend.
GameTracker will have the Loyola Marymount and Cal State Fullerton games live at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com.
Making its second trip to California in the last four weeks, Ohio State is 3-1 on opponent’s home fields this season (see later note) and will put that record up against three teams with winning records this week at LMU (20-11), Long Beach State (14-12) and Fullerton (16-15). Following the trip west, Ohio State begins Big Ten play on the road with games at Indiana March 31 and April 1 and at Purdue April 2.
OHIO STATE AT A GLANCE
Ohio State has won six of its last eight games to improve to 12-10 on the season. The Buckeyes have two wins over ranked teams this year, those coming against No. 22 Oregon Feb. 25 in Palm Springs and March 3 at No. 6 Alabama.
After scoring seven or more runs in a school-record five consecutive games to begin the season, Ohio State was held under seven runs in its next 15 games. That stretch came to an end last weekend, however, when the Buckeyes topped Central Michigan 8-3 and Robert Morris 11-2 in Columbus.
Sophomore Liz Caputo leads Ohio State with a .364 batting average but is out until early April with a broken tibia. Junior Megan Schwab’s .358 average is tops among the active players, with junior Nycole Koyano checking in next at .293. Five Buckeyes have more than 10 RBI, including freshman Courtney Pruner (13) and junior Jamee Juarez (11), who share the team-lead in home runs with four.
In the circle, junior Jamee Juarez (7-5, 3.04 ERA) and freshman Kim Reeder (5-5, 2.33 ERA) have started Ohio State’s 22 games, while freshman Courtney Pruner (0-0, 1 save, 5.91 ERA) has made seven relief appearances.
OSU returns 11 letterwinners and welcomes four newcomers in 2006 for head coach Linda Kalafatis, who is in her tenth season. The Buckeyes were 32-17 overall in 2005 and finished fourth in the Big Ten with a 9-7 league mark. OSU ranked among the NCAA’s Top 13 in six categories, including scoring (8th, 5.8 runs/game).
OHIO STATE ON SPRING BREAK
The Buckeyes are making their third-consecutive trip to California for spring break and seventh trip overall under 10th-year head coach Linda Kalafatis. The only years the Buckeyes did not head to California for spring break were in 2001 and 2002, when they competed in the Buzz Classic hosted by Georgia Tech, and the 2003 season when OSU kept heading west and participated in the University of Hawai’i/Chevron Invitational. Ohio State went 2-2 in the Los Angeles area last year (1-0 at Fullerton, 0-2 at Loyola Marymount and 1-0 at Riverside).
BUCKEYES EXCEL ON OPPONENT’S TURF
The Buckeyes may be 6-9 in neutral site games this season, but they are 3-1 when playing on an opponent’s home field. Those wins include Feb. 10 at New Mexico State (won 11-1), Feb. 19 at Stetson (5-2) and March 3 at No. 6 Alabama (3-1). The lone loss was Feb. 18 at Stetson (2-0). In those four games, Ohio State is batting 22 points higher than in neutral site games (.283-.261) and even more impressively OSU pitchers have an ERA that is 2.09 better (3.65-1.56). Five Buckeyes are batting .300 or better on opponent’s home fields compared to just one in neutral site games.
A HOMECOMING FOR SIX BUCKEYES
Five Buckeyes are from California, including four from the Los Angeles area, including Nycole Koyano (Walnut), Stacy Hibma (Buena Park), Jamee Juarez (La Puente) and Liz Caputo (Riverside). In addition, Kim Reeder is from Salinas, Calif., about 300 miles north of L.A. A pair of Buckeyes are from neighboring Arizona, including Megan Schwab (Glendale) and Christina Douglas (Mesa), both suburbs of Phoenix.
OSU-OPPONENT CONNECTIONS
Ohio State’s Liz Caputo and Loyola Marymount’s Mia Cesena are both from Riverside, Calif. Stacy Hibma of Ohio State, Michelle Turner of Long Beach State and Fullerton’s Candice Baker are all from Buena Park, Calif. Long Beach State sophomore Brooke LeSage and OSU assistant coach Kristi DeVries are both from Corona, Calif.
OSU WINS BUCKEYE INVITATIONAL
Ohio State won its home opener last Friday, a 2-1 extra-inning victory over Kent State, on its way to a 3-0 record and championship of the Buckeye Invitational. OSU also topped Central Michigan 8-3 and Robert Morris 11-2 in the weather-shortened event. Pittsburgh also went 3-0 but Ohio State’s +15 run differential won the tie-breaker (Pitt was +13). With the three wins, Ohio State remains perfect in the six years of the Invitational with a 22-0 record. Junior Jamee Juarez was named to the all-tournament team for the third-consecutive year and was joined by juniors Christina Douglas and Megan Schwab.
A LOOK AT THE COMPETITION
Loyola Marymount is 20-11 overall and 12-2 in its new stadium, Smith Field, this season. When the Buckeyes visit LMU Wednesday it will bring to a close a stretch of 16 consecutive home games for the Lions, which have won five in row. LMU was 34-20 last year and won the Pacific Coast Softball Conference to earn a trip to the NCAA regionals (0-2), but lost 11 of 18 letterwinners and returns only four starters. The Lions have hit 25 home runs this season compared to four for their opponents and the LMU pitching staff owns a 2.07 ERA. Hillaree Bennett leads the offense with a .422 average and 10 home runs, while Tiffany Pagano (9-6, 1.34 ERA) and Samantha Lavino (9-4, 2.89) are leaders in the circle. Gary Ferrin is 411-305-1 in his 12th year at Loyola Marymount.
Long Beach State is 14-12 and 7-3 at home this season, which includes games at both Mayfair Park and 49er Softball Complex, which will host the LBS-OSU games Friday. At Mayfair, the 49ers upset then-No. 2 UCLA Feb. 15. LBS, which as been to the College World Series five times, was 39-16 last year and won the Big West Conference to advance to the NCAA Regionals (2-2). Ten letterwinners are back for coach Pete Manarino, who is in his 24th season and owns an overall record of 826-498. The 49ers graduated the co-Big West Pitchers of the Year last year, but LBS junior Michelle Turner is picking up where they left off with an 11-5 record and 1.44 ERA and back-to-back Big West Pitcher of the Week honors. Brianna Goad leads the 49er offense with a .339 average.
Cal State Fullerton is 16-15 overall and 7-6 at home at Titan Softball Complex, where CSF hosts Big Ten member Northwestern Thursday before the Buckeyes visit Saturday. Fullerton, which has made six trips to the College World Series, was 30-21 last year and received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament (2-2). Eight starters are back, including Amanda Kamekona, who leads the CSF offense with a .351 average, while Candice Baker is 11-5 in the circle with a 2.49 ERA. Coach Michelle Gromacki is 251-127 in her eighth season.
ALL-TIME SERIES NOTES
Ohio State is 0-3 all-time against Loyola Marymount, with two of the losses coming at LMU last year (3-2, 11-10) and the other coming in 1999 in Hawai’i (2-1).
Long Beach State holds a 10-2 edge in the all-time series with Ohio State and has won seven straight over the Buckeyes. Five of those games were played at Long Beach (2000, 1999 DH and 1991 DH), with the other two coming at Arizona (1992) and San Diego (2001). OSU’s last win over the 49ers came in 1991 at Arizona, 2-1.
Ohio State is 4-12 all-time against Cal State Fullerton but in the last three years OSU owns a three-game winning streak over the Titans, including two wins on CSF’s home field (1-0 in 2003 and 6-1 in 2005). The Buckeyes knocked off then-No. 24 Fullerton 7-2 in 2004 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus, Ga.
LAST YEAR AGAINST CSF, LMU
Ohio State faced Cal State Fullerton and Loyola Marymount on spring break last season, as well. The Buckeyes topped Fullerton, 6-1, after scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning. Jamee Juarez threw a two-hitter and Megan Schwab homered twice and drove in a career-high five runs. One day later in a double-header at LMU, OSU dropped a 3-2 decision in the opener before falling in a wild nightcap, 11-10, that saw the Buckeyes score eight runs in the fourth inning.
SHORT HOPS…
Juniors Christina Douglas and Megan Schwab enter spring break hot at the plate. Douglas owns a five-game hitting streak (8-for-14, .571), while Schwab is on a seven-game streak (10-for-21, .476), which is best on the team this season.
Of Ohio State’s 93 RBI, 53 percent (49) have come with two outs. OSU pitchers saw their team ERA creep up to 4.11 after 11 games but now have lowered it to 2.91. The Buckeyes are 11-0 when leading after four innings. OSU is 11-3 when scoring three or more runs.
Junior Jamee Juarez tied a Big Ten and Ohio State record Feb. 25 with three home runs in a 6-0 win over No. 22 Oregon in Palm Springs. Her five RBI in that game are a career high. Freshman Courtney Pruner’s first collegiate hit was a home run (Feb. 11) and she now has four homers on the season, which are tied for second-most in a season by a freshman in OSU history (Juarez in 2004). Pruner is the all-time home run leader in Ohio high school history.
Senior Billie Carder’s five-game hitting streak to open the season tied her career best hitting streak. Her .375 average with runners on base is tops on the team. With runners in scoring position, sophomore Brittany Vanderink’s .357 average is tops. Sophomore center fielder Liz Caputo suffered a broken tibia at Stetson Feb. 19 and is out four to six weeks.
The Buckeyes’ 4-0 start matched their best four-game start in program history (1979). Ohio State went into extra-innings in four of its first six games of the season and went 2-2 in those contests. The Buckeyes won back-to-back games in extra-innings Feb. 11 for the first time among available records. The last time OSU played consecutive extra-inning games was when the Buckeyes played three straight extended contests in March of 2002 (2-1). OSU was just 0-1 in extra-inning games last year.
BUCKEYES IN THE BIG TEN
In Big Ten statistics as of March 14, Ohio State ranked sixth in the Big Ten in batting (.266 avg.), eighth in pitching (3.21 ERA) and eighth in fielding (.951 pct.). The Buckeyes ranked second in the Big Ten in home runs (18) and stolen bases (30) and tied for first in triples (5). Courtney Pruner was tied for fourth in the Big Ten in home runs (4), Billie Carder tied for tops in the league in triples (2) and Nycole Koyano ranked tied for second in stolen bases (12). Among the Big Ten’s pitching leaders, Jamee Juarez ranked eighth (tie) in innings pitched (59.0) and 10th in strikeouts (59), while Kim Reeder ranked seventh in innings pitched (61.0).
KALAFATIS IN 10TH YEAR AT OSU
Ohio State head coach Linda Kalafatis is in her 10th season at the helm of the Buckeyes’ softball program in 2006. She is already OSU’s all-time wins leader with 307 victories in Columbus (307-219-0, .583), and her overall record stands at 580-334-2 (.639) in 18 years as a collegiate head coach. She is assisted by former Buckeyes Belinda Quisenberry and Kristi DeVries and former Nebraska All-American Ali Viola.
OSU IN NON-CONFERENCE HOME GAMES
Since head coach Linda Kalafatis took over the Ohio State program for the 1997 season, the Buckeyes are now 90-10 in non-conference home games at Buckeye Field. Among its best season records in non-conference home games, OSU was 14-2 in 2001 and 13-1 in both 2002 and 1998. The Buckeyes were 7-0 in non-league games at Buckeye Field last year, batting .389 as a team in those games and averaging 9.7 runs per game.
OSU WINS AT NO. 6 ALABAMA
Ohio State freshman pitcher Kim Reeder scattered six hits and struck out seven and junior Christina Douglas hit a two-run homer to lift the Buckeyes to a 3-1 win at sixth-ranked Alabama March 3. The win was OSU’s first over a Top 10 opponent in three years and at the same time ended the Crimson Tide’s 16 game home winning streak.
Prior to the win at Alabama, the Buckeyes last defeated a Top 10 team when they did it on back-to-back days against No. 6 California and No. 7 Cal State Fullerton March 1 and 2, 2003, at the Fullerton/Worth Invitational. The win over Alabama was the second-consecutive for the Buckeyes over the Crimson Tide after OSU’s 7-2 win in February 2003 in Miami, Fla., when the current OSU seniors were freshmen.
### GO BUCKS! ###
