Buckeyes Complete Sweep Of Indiana On Senior Day – Ohio State Buckeyes

Sunday, May 3

Columbus, Ohio

Ohio State

29-21, 0

Indiana

17-38, 0

Indiana

Ohio State

Buckeyes Complete Sweep Of Indiana On Senior Day – Ohio State Buckeyes

5/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball

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May 3, 2015

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Anna Kirk hit a key home run in the sixth inning and Ohio State pitchers limited Indiana to five hits over seven innings as the Buckeyes completed a weekend sweep of the Hoosiers with a 6-3 victory on Sunday. Ohio State finishes the regular season 29-21 overall (12-11 Big Ten) and will be the sixth seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament May 7-9 at Buckeye Field. Ohio State will take on 11th-seeded Indiana in a first round matchup at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Kirk, who hit .714 this weekend with three home runs and a 2.143 slugging percentage, gave the Buckeyes a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth with her 10th round-tripper of the year. Ohio State added another insurance run on a bases loaded walk to make the score 6-3. In the bottom of the first, senior Caitlin Conrad hit a solo home run to straight away center. The hit broke the single season team record for home runs in the season (69), held previously by the 2009 squad.

Conrad, who was one of the six senior honored prior to the game, went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored. She finished the regular season hitting .391 with a team-high 51 RBI and 49 runs scored. In 23 Big Ten games, Conrad, a Richwood, Ohio native, hit at a .437 clip with 24 RBI and 24 runs in 23 games.

Leading 4-0 after two innings on the strength of Conrad’s home run and her two-run single, the Buckeyes saw Indiana claw back with single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Rachel O’Malley hit a solo home run to left center with one out in the third, Kelsey Dotson followed with one in the fourth inning and Brianna Meyer hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 4-3 in the fifth. The Hoosiers did leave three runners on in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth.

Kirk’s home run in the sixth came on a 3-1 pitch and was crushed over the left field fence. After Alex Bayne popped out to second, Ashley Goodwin walked, Kirstie Fehrenbach doubled to left center and Conrad walked to load the bases. McIntyre then walked in a run in an eight-pitch at bat. The inning ended with Fehrenbach being called out a home attempting to advance on a wild pitch.

Shelby Hursh, who came on in relief of Olivia O’Reilly in the sixth inning, gave up a one-out single in the seventh inning but retired the final two batters to pick up her fourth save of the year. O’Reilly scattered three hits over five innings and gave up two earned runs to improve to 14-9 on the season. She also picked up her 40th career victory.

The 2015 Big Ten Tournament gets started with four first-round games at Buckeye Field on Thursday. Fifth-seeded Illinois opens against No. 12 Purdue at noon, followed by No. 8 Maryland against No. 9 Penn State at 2:30 p.m. At 5:30, No. 6 Ohio State squares off with 11th-seeded Indiana followed by No. 7 Rutgers vs. No. 10 Iowa at 8 p.m. Four quarterfinal games follow on Friday and the semifinals/championship game will be on Saturday. The final two games on Thursday, all four games on Friday and three games on Friday can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.