Buckeyes Close Out Fall Campaign With Doubleheader Sweep – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Oct. 11, 2015
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – A nail-biting 7-6 win over Kentucky and 10-2 rout of Kent State highlighted the Ohio State softball team’s afternoon at Buckeye Field on Sunday. Ohio State finishes the fall season with a perfect 6-0 record in Sunday doubleheaders.
The hitting star of the day with senior Cammi Prantl, who had a three-run home run vs. the Wildcats and two doubles against Kent State. In the circle, Shelby Hursh picked up a save in the afternoon’s first game while Shelby McCombs allowed just two hits against the Golden Flashes.
Game One: Ohio State 7, Kentucky 6
Prantl provided the biggest spark offensively by way of a three-run home run that gave Ohio State a 6-2 lead in the fourth inning while Hursh came on to get the save as Ohio State edge Kentucky, 7-6.
The Wildcats, a team that made the Women’s College World Series in 2014 and a NCAA Super Regional last spring, took a 2-0 lead after two innings, but in the third Ohio State got on the scoreboard thanks to a sacrifice fly by Prantl to score pinch runner Megan Choinacky and RBI single to left field by Anna Kirk, scoring Taylor White.
In the fourth inning, four runs crossed the plate, keyed by Prantl’s three-run blast. A single by Brianna Betschel brought Alex Bayne home, giving the Buckeyes a 3-2 lead and setting the stage for Prantl’s heroics.
Kentucky got back into the game in the fifth inning thanks an error, double and two-run home run. Hursh came in relief of starter Morgan Ray and limited the damage. In the sixth, the Wildcats had runners on second and third with nobody out, but a pop fly and inning-ending double play kept the score at 6-5.
In the bottom of the sixth, Betschel started things off with a single and took third on a two-base error. She then score an important insurance run on a sacrifice fly by Erika Leonard. Kentucky hit a home run in the top of the seventh to pull to within 7-6, but that’s as close as the Wildcats would get.
Game Two: Ohio State 10, Kent State 2 (6 innings)
McCombs scattered just two hits over six innings while striking out eight and Prantl went 3-for-3 with two doubles as Ohio State completed the sweep by routing Kent State, 10-2.
McCombs was cruising the entire game, giving up hits in just the fourth and sixth innings. At the plate, nine different players recorded hits, highlighted by a 2-for-3 performance from Maddie Marotti and three RBI from Emily Clark.
In the first inning, Prantl drove home White with a double, and then the Buckeyes broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of the third, keyed by a bases-clearing three-run double by Clark and straightaway center field. Cassidy Clough also drove home Marotti with a double and scored herself on a two-base error by the catcher.
Ahead 6-2 headed into the bottom of the sixth, four runs crossed the plate on five hits for the Buckeyes. Becca Gavin came in as a pinch hitter and delivered a two-run single to right field, followed up by Leonard two-run double with the bases loaded that ended the game.
In three doubleheader Sunday sweeps this fall, Ohio State outscored its opponents 55-18. The Buckeyes will open the 2016 spring season Feb. 13-14 in Baton Rouge, La. at the LSU Tiger Classic. The full 2016 schedule will be released shortly.
Dani Schoenly contributed to this report.
