Penn State Holds On for 4-2 Win over Ohio State – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 6, 2006
Box Score
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Ohio State’s Nycole Koyano hit a two-out, two-run home run in the seventh inning, but the Buckeye softball team’s comeback effort was stopped short as Penn State held on for a 4-2 win Saturday at Nittany Lion Field. Ohio State (37-19, 11-6 Big Ten) outhit Penn State 7-4, but two OSU errors gave the Nittany Lions (36-14, 9-10 Big Ten) all their runs unearned.
The homer for Koyano (Jr., Walnut, Calif./Walnut) was her sixth of the season but was the only dent the Buckeyes could get off Penn State senior pitcher Missy Beseres (19-7), who came within one strike of ending Ohio State’s school-record streak for consecutive games without being shut out. The streak extends to 28 games, but was not enough as the Buckeyes lose for just the fifth time in their last 24 games.
“We had some good at bats in the first couple innings, but we just missed on a couple swings,” Linda Kalafatis, Ohio State head coach, said. “We didn’t have as good of at bats in the meat of the game and then just didn’t come up with enough at the end.”
Beseres, a fourth-round pick last February in the Women’s Pro Fastpitch Draft, struck out nine and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning. The Buckeyes hit two doubles in the game but stranded six runners on base and had one picked off. After Koyano’s homer, PSU’s reliever Jenn Reynolds got the game’s final out for her first save. With the win, Penn State guarantees itself a spot in next week’s Big Ten tournament.
OSU freshman Kim Reeder (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame H.S.) struck out five and retired the Nittany Lions in order in the first, second and fourth innings, but PSU got to her for three runs in the third inning and another in the fifth, all of which were unearned. Reeder falls to 16-9. Freshman Courtney Pruner (Akron, Ohio/Ellet) worked the final 1.1 innings in relief without allowing a hit. In the first inning, Koyano walked and stole her Big Ten-leading 26th base of the season. A walk to Pruner and an infield single to third base by senior Billie Carder (Celina, Ohio/Celina) loaded the bases but Beseres got junior Jamee Juarez (La Puente, Calif./Wilson) to fly out to left. In the second, junior Lauren Daykin (Melbourne, Australia/Manatee C.C., Fla.) hit a two-out double down the leftfield line but was stranded when Koyano flied out to center.
Reeder retired the first six Penn State batters of the game, but her fielding error in the third inning helped lead to three unearned runs, all coming with two outs. Jen Acunto smacked a two-RBI single to the wall in centerfield and Danielle Kinley added a RBI bloop single down the leftfield line to drive in the Nittany Lions’ runs.
Koyano is now hitting .414 (24-for-58) in her last 17 games with four home runs. Sophomore Brittany Vanderink (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood), the current Big Ten Player of the Week, extended her career-best hitting streak to 11 with a two-out double in the fifth inning. Carder’s single in the first inning extended her current hitting streak to six games, one shy of her career best.
Ohio State and Penn State will meet again at 1 p.m. Sunday in the final regular season game for both teams.
### GO BUCKS! ###
