Ohio State Tops Loyola Marymount, 5-2, in Game One Wednesday – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 22, 2006
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State softball team took a 5-2 win over host Loyola Marymount in the first game of a double-header in Los Angeles Wednesday as the Buckeyes began their spring trip in winning fashion. Ohio State (13-10) took a 2-0 lead in the third inning and added three more runs in the seventh inning to win its fourth-consecutive game and snap a five-game winning streak by LMU (20-12).
In six-plus innings of work, OSU junior pitcher Jamee Juarez (La Puente, Calif./Wilson) collected 10 strikeouts and allowed seven hits, with three of them coming in the Lions’ final at bat. With two runs in, a runner on second base and no outs, OSU freshman Kim Reeder (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame H.S.) came on in relief to retire three LMU hitters in order.
The win for Juarez (8-5) was her fourth in a row and the save for Reeder was her first. The Lions entered the game having out-homered their opponents 25-4 this season and had a 63-17 overall advantage in extra-base hits, but were held by Juarez and Reeder to seven hits and just one extra-base hit, a double.
Loyola Marymount, which won the Pacific Coast Softball Conference last year, sees its record slip to 12-3 in its new stadium, Smith Field, this season. Lion pitcher Tiffany Pagano, the 2005 PCSC Pitcher of the Year, struck out eight Buckeyes but sees her record fall to 9-7.
A single by junior Megan Schwab (Glendale, Ariz./Sunrise Mountain) in the third inning loaded the bases for the Buckeyes after junior Nycole Koyano (Walnut, Calif./Walnut) reached on an error and junior Christina Douglas (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson) walked. Freshman Courtney Pruner (Akron, Ohio/Ellet) followed that with a walk to bring home Ohio State’s first run of the game and Juarez was then hit by a pitch for OSU’s second run.
In the top of the seventh inning, an RBI double by Pruner and a two-RBI double by senior Chelsea Baker (Gahanna, Ohio/DeSales) would give Ohio State a 5-0 lead.
Schwab went 2-for-4 in the game for her team-leading eighth multiple-hit game of the season and extend her hitting streak to a team-best eight games. In those eight games she is hitting .480 (12-for-25) at the plate.
Ohio State and Loyola Marymount will meet in game two Wednesday at approximately 3:30 p.m. (PST).
### GO BUCKS! ###
