Softball: Now 5-0, No. 22 Ohio State Wins Stetson Lead-Off Classic in Extra Innings – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Buckeyes get complete game from Lindsay Bodeker and game-winning RBI from Whitney Cooper
DeLAND, Fla. Now 5-0 for the first time since 1986, the 22nd-ranked Ohio State softball team beat host Stetson, 6-5, Sunday in extra-innings in the championship game of the Stetson Lead-Off Classic at Patricia Wilson Field. Ohio State sophomore Lindsay Bodeker threw her second complete-game of the weekend and sophomore Whitney Cooper’s RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning ended the game and gave the Buckeyes their second win of the weekend over the defending Atlantic Sun Conference champions.
Ohio State sophomore Tory Haddad hit a two-out, three-run double in the third inning to give the Buckeyes a 4-1 lead, but Stetson’s Amanda Lindsey hit a two-run homer in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 4-4.
Stetson falls to 3-2 after two losses to Ohio State this weekend. The Hatters left 22 runners on base in those two losses, including 12 Sunday.
Stetson scored once in the top of the eighth, but Ohio State sophomore Sam Marder’s RBI single tied the game a 5-5 and freshman Karisa Medrano, pinch-running for Marder, scored all the way from first on Cooper’s double into the right-centerfield gap.
Bodeker (2-0) struck out 13 Hatters in the win, scattering seven hits and walking five. Haddad’s three RBI were a career high.
Bodeker retired six of the first seven Hatters she faced, but got into trouble in the top of the third inning when two OSU errors helped Stetson take a 1-0 lead. The lead would quickly change back in favor of the Buckeyes in the bottom of the frame.
Ohio State’s four-run third inning was ignited by a walk issued to senior Liz Caputo, who took second on a grounder hit to second by freshman Dee Dee Hillman that was bobbled by the shortstop on the force throw. With Caputo on second and Hillman on first, freshman Brittany Goodchild laid down a bunt that she beat out for a base hit to load the bases. Next up, senior Brittany Vanderink took a full swing but it turned out to be more like a perfectly placed bunt down the first base line, allowing Caputo to score and keep the bases loaded. Two batters later, Hadded sent a full-count pitch into the left-centerfield gap, allowing Hillman to score from third, Goodchild to score from second and Vanderink to score all the way from first.
Stetson got one run back in the fifth inning off two hits and a walk and threatened again in the sixth inning, loading the bases, with two walks and an error, but Bodeker induced a fly-out to Hillman in right field to end the inning.
Cooper went 2-for-3 and Marder went 2-for-4 to lead Ohio State, while Goodchild scored twice.
Ohio State returns to the Sunshine State next weekend for the Florida International Invitational in Miami.
Postgame Notes No. 22 Ohio State 6, Stetson 5 (8 innings) … Feb. 10, 2008
– Not in the Box Score: Stetson entered the weekend with a 155-41 record at home the last six years, but lost twice this weekend to Ohio State.
– Ohio State is now 51-26 all-time when ranked in the Top 25.
– The Buckeyes are now 5-0 for the first time since season results are available in 1986.
– Buckeyes in the circle: Lindsay Bodeker struck out 13 Stetson batters, which is the most by an OSU pitcher since Jamee Juarez struck out 16 Massachusetts batters Feb. 29, 2004.
– Ohio State pitchers threw five complete games this weekend.
– Ohio State has not been shut out in a school-record 41-consecutive games. The previous school record was 28 games.
– Weather: Sunny and 69 degrees at first pitch. Wind 12 MPH right to left.
– Ohio State is now 2-1 all-time against Stetson.
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