Northwestern Comes Back to Edge Ohio State, 3-2

Sunday, March 14

Leesburg, Fla.

Ohio State

6-6, 0

Northwestern

11-1, 0

Northwestern

Ohio State

Northwestern Comes Back to Edge Ohio State, 3-2

3/14/2021 12:16:51 PM | Softball

Box Score

Final Box Score

LEESBURG, Fla. – Freshman pitcher Allison Smith scattered just four hits over seven innings and Niki Carver hit her second home run of the year, but Ohio State (6-6) fell on Sunday to Northwestern (11-1) as the Wildcats scored three times in the top of the seventh inning to complete a 3-2 comeback.

Smith, who was making her second start in less than 24 hours against the 23-ranked Wildcats, was up to the task. She fanned six Northwestern batters over seven innings and gave up no earned runs. Trailing 2-0 however, Northwestern scored three times with two outs in the top of the seventh. The first came in on a Jordyn Rudd RBI single and two more came around to score on a triple by Morgan Newport.

Ohio State got a base runner in the bottom of the seventh inning when Tegan Cortelletti got an infield single, but the next two batters struck out to end the game.

The Buckeyes’ offense on Sunday was highlighted by Niki Carver, who hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to give Ohio State a 2-0 lead. It was her second home run of the season and the 14th of her career. In the top of the first, Ohio State manufactured a run as Cortelleti started the inning with a double, sole third and came in to score on an Ashley Prange sacrifice fly.

For Cortelletti, her two-for-two day at the plate upped her batting average to .524 of the weekend. She finished with 11 hits in 21 at-bats with a .545 on-base percentage. In the circle, Smith was the winning pitcher in all three of the Buckeyes’ wins with a 1.44 earned run average and 24 strikeouts over 24.1 innings.

Ohio State finished its 12-game season-opening stretch in Florida with a 6-6 record and played six one-run games along with three that went to extra innings. The Buckeyes have 12 days off before they return to Buckeye Field for the first time in nearly 700 days to take on Maryland in a four-game series beginning on Friday, March 26.