Ohio State Posts Undefeated Record at Ohio Collegiate Charity Classic – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
COLUMBUS, Ohio –On a cold and windy fall afternoon, the Ohio State softball team concluded its 2010 Ohio Collegiate Charity Classic with two wins Sunday to end the tournament held at Fred Beekman Park with a 4-0 record.
“It was a challenging day to play softball and our team grinded it out in tough conditions,” Linda Kalafatis, Ohio State head coach, said. “It was good to get experience for a lot of players this weekend.”
The Buckeyes began the day with an 8-5 victory over Kent State in six innings of competition. Senior starting pitcher Karisa Medrano struck out five batters in the windy conditions to help the Buckeyes get through their first win of the frigid afternoon.
Sophomore Megan Coletta opened up the scoring, hitting a single that drove in two Buckeyes for the early lead. After Kent State made it 2-1 in the bottom of the first, lead-off hitter DeeDee Hillman hit one of her two singles in the game in the top of the second, which scored another Ohio State run.
Coletta took a line-drive hit away in the bottom of the second with a diving snag to her left at third base.
The Buckeyes picked up two more runs in the fifth inning on an RBI single by junior Alicia Herron and a sacrifice fly to left field by Coletta to make the score, 5-2. Ohio State added three more runs in the sixth after a single by senior Brittany Goodchild and a double by Herron.
The Golden Flashes would then pick up three runs in the final half inning in the sixth before the contest ended, 8-5.
In the second game, Ohio State downed Toledo, 7-2, in seven innings led by three Buckeye homeruns. Freshman Audrey Plant got the start on the mound and pitched six innings, allowing just three hits and two runs with five strikeouts. Freshman Kasie Kelly closed the game for the Buckeyes with a strikeout.
After Toledo began the game with a lead-off homerun, Herron evened the score to, 1-1, on a solo blast to right-center field. She scored a team-high three runs during the second game. The Rockets would then hit their second home run in the second inning, but it would be their last score of the afternoon.
Freshman Evelyn Carrillo had an impressive day at the plate with two three-run home runs in the third and fourth inning, going 3-for-3 vs. Toledo in the clean-up spot. Her first bomb went to center field, scoring Hillman and Herron. Carrillo’s second big fly was to right center field with freshman Melissa Rennie and Herron on base.
Hillman ended one of the Rockets’ last rallies of the day in the bottom of the sixth inning with a diving catch in left field, battling the gusty winds, while Herron made another great Buckeye defensive play in the seventh inning at shortstop with a diving stop and flip to second baseman Melaina Saalfeld for the force out.
