Ohio State Wins Twice Saturday at Ohio Collegiate Charity Classic – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Junior Courtney Pruner belts two homeruns, drives in seven runs
COLUMBUS, Ohio On the first day of the Seventh Annual Ohio Collegiate Charity Classic, the Ohio State softball team went 2-0 Saturday at Fred Beekman Park in Columbus. The Buckeyes beat Ohio, 9-5, and Bowling Green, 4-2, in the 13-team event that is one of Central Ohio’s largest fundraisers for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research.
Stefanie Spielman will speak to all the teams and fans at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on Field 2 prior to the start of second and final day of the Charity Classic.
Ohio State junior Courtney Pruner had a homerun in each game and drove in seven of the 13 runs scored by the Buckeyes on the day. Sophomore Sam Marder went 4-for-4 against Ohio in the opener, while junior pitcher Kim Reeder struck out 12 in the nightcap.
“We gave up more runs in that first game than what we would have liked and had a bunch of errors, but we were able to hit our way out of that and score enough runs,” Linda Kalafatis, Ohio State head coach, said. “The team came back and played flawless defense in the second game. We knew Bowling Green was going to be a really good team because they have a lot of returnees and upperclassmen, so we knew we were going to have to play really hard. We had four freshmen in that game and we were continuing our plan of trying to get them ready. We were really pleased that Dee Dee Hillman got on base a couple of times and Rachael Shepherd was solid behind the plate. Reeder threw an exceptional game.”
In the 9-5 tournament-opening win against Ohio, the Bobcats could not capitalize often enough on six OSU errors. Overcoming their defensive errors, the Buckeyes were hot at the plate, led by Marder, who went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, and Pruner, who had two-out, three-run homerun in the top of the second. Sophomore Courtney Cannon and freshman Nic Perales each had an RBI, while senior Brittany Vanderink, sophomore Tory Haddad and freshman Rachael Shepherd all added singles.
In a cleaner game defensively by the Buckeyes, Ohio State held on to defeat Bowling Green 4-2 in the second game of the day. In the circle Reeder allowed only two runs, while walking two and fanning 12 Falcons. At the plate for the Buckeyes, Pruner was 2-for-3 with four RBIs and scored all four OSU runs. Hillman, a freshmen, went 2-for-3 freshman Brittany Goodchild added a hit.
Ohio State returns to action at the Charity Classic in Columbus Sunday when the Buckeyes take on Toledo at noon and Kent State at 4 p.m.
### ohiostatebuckeyes.com ###
Contact: Tim Stried, stried.3@osu.edu
