Ohio State Falls 6-3 to No. 1 Arizona in NCAA Regional – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 19, 2006
Box Score
TUCSON, Ariz. – Ohio State junior Lauren Daykin’s fifth inning two-run home run of Arizona All-American Alicia Hollowell brought the Buckeyes to within one at 4-3, but the No. 1-ranked Wildcats added runs in the sixth and seventh to knock off the OSU softball team, 6-3, Friday in the NCAA Arizona Regional. Ohio State (39-22) will return to Hillenbrand Stadium in Tucson at 9:30 p.m. (EDT) Friday in an elimination game to face the winner of the Auburn-Marist game.
The winner of the game tonight will face No. 1 seed Arizona (46-9) Saturday in the regional championship game at 6 p.m. (EDT) on ESPN2.
When these two teams met February 25 in Palm Springs, Calif., Hollowell (25-4) struck out 18 Buckeyes and allowed two hits in Arizona’s 5-1 win. Friday, however, OSU had four hits and scored three runs in the fifth inning in its bid for what would have been the first-ever win for the Buckeyes over the nation’s top-ranked team.
“We made it interesting,” Linda Kalafatis, Ohio State head coach, said. “Last time we played Arizona Hollowell struck us out 18 times, so it was our goal today to put the ball in play and we did a much better job of that. If we face her again, I’d like us to get the ball down more. We didn’t play great defense and when you don’t play great defense, Arizona is going to hurt you. We had the tying runs on second and third in the sixth inning, but when Hollowell has all her pitches working it’s tough to beat her.”
With the game-time temperature at 97 degrees, Hollowell retired 12 of the first 13 Buckeyes she faced and took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Hollowell, a finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award, ended the game with 10 strikeouts. However, it marked only the third time in her 31 starts that she allowed three or more earned runs.
In the fifth, OSU junior Christina Douglas (Mesa, Ariz./Dobson) led off with a single up the middle and moved to second on a wild pitch. Pruner, who homered off Hollowell in February, singled up the middle to score Douglas, who slid in just before the tag of Arizona catcher Callista Balko. That brought Daykin (Melbourne, Australia/Manatee C.C., Fla.) to the plate, who sent an offering from Hollowell just over the wall in left-centerfield for her third home run of the season.
Arizona, making its 20th-consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, is seeking its 18th trip to the Women’s College World Series. The Wildcats have won 12-consecutive games, eight of which have been against opponents seeded No. 14 or better in the tournament. Ohio State entered the game 2-10 all-time against Arizona, but the Buckeyes’ 4-0 win over the then-No. 2 ranked Wildcats at the 1996 Arizona State Coco-Cola Classic marked the highest ranked opponent to fall to the Buckeyes.
Ohio State was without senior co-captain Chelsea Baker (Gahanna, Ohio/DeSales), who suffered a knee and lower leg injury Thursday in the Buckeyes’ 1-0 win over No. 25 Auburn. She entered the postseason with a team-high eight homers.
OSU freshman pitcher Kim Reeder (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame H.S.) gave up two runs in the first inning and a two-run homer in the third by Kristie Fox, her 13th of the season. OSU freshman reliever Courtney Pruner (Akron, Ohio/Ellet) entered the game with no outs and a runner on first in the third and walked the first batter she faced but set down the next three Wildcats in order to stop the damage with Arizona up 4-0.
At that point, it was an uphill battle for the Buckeyes. Arizona entered the game 32-0 when it scored four or more runs.
Pruner kept Arizona in check in the fourth and fifth innings, but the Wildcats got an unearned run in the sixth and Balko knocked a solo homer in the seventh.
The Buckeyes put two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth when Vanderink hit a bunt single and went to third on a throwing error by Hollowell. Juarez walked and stole second, but Hollowell got a groundout and a strikeout to keep the Wildcats on top.
### GO BUCKS! ###
