Ohio State
St. Bonaventure
Ohio State Defeats St. Bonaventure, 8-2 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 18, 2012
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Ohio State softball team concluded the 2012 TSU Tiger Classic Tournament with an 8-2 victory against St. Bonaventure Sunday morning at Tiger Field. The Buckeyes (14-8, 0-0 Big Ten) will now travel to face No. 14/15 Louisville at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday in Louisville, Ky., to wrap up the 2012 spring break trip.
In the circle, sophomore captain Melanie Nichols tied her career-high in strikeouts with eight, while allowing two runs and two walks to improve to 5-2 overall in 2012. The 2010 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Nichols now has three complete-game victories this season.
Offensively, senior captain Alicia Herron and junior Danielle LeBeau were both 1-for-2 with two RBI. Seniors Vanessa Spears and Katie Simonton each had two hits.
Herron wraps up the weekend batting .500 with two home runs, eight RBI and five runs scored. Freshman Taylor Watkins led the team in hitting this weekend, going .583 at the plate with a double and an RBI and five runs scored.
The Buckeye offense got on the board first for the third-consecutive day, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first – all unearned against the Bonnies. With the bases loaded, LeBeau made it 1-0 when she pulled a ball to left field for an RBI single to extend her hit streak to eight-consecutive games. With the single, the native of Poway, Calif., has now reached base safely in 15-consecutive games and has 14 RBI.
Sophomore catcher Melissa Rennie then extended the lead to 4-0 after the SBU left fielder dropped a fly ball with two outs and the bases loaded, allowing all three OSU runners to cross the plate.
After Nichols got out of a bases loaded situation in the top of the second, Ohio State made it 5-0 when senior Katie Simonton scored on an RBI single by Watkins. Simonton began the inning with a single to short left field. The run was the first earned run of the morning.
St. Bonaventure cut the team’s lead to three runs after scoring one run in both the fifth and six innings, respectively.
The Scarlet and Gray added three runs in the bottom of the sixth highlighted by a two-run single by Herron with one down and the bases loaded to claim the eventual 8-2 final score. Herron extends her hit streak to 12-consecutive games – one shy of her career high set in 2010.
Nichols claimed the victory with two strikeouts in the final inning, stranding three SBU baserunners.
The Buckeyes collected 10 hits, while the Bonnies had 11 hits. St. Bonaventure left 12 on base, while Ohio State left seven base runners in the game.
