A California Homecoming This Weekend for Ohio State
2/23/2023 6:16:22 AM | Softball
The start of a college softball season can often feel like an endless series of flights, bus rides, hotel stays and unfamiliar surroundings. Such is life when your first 25 games are played away from home and you log over 8,000 round trip miles of travel.
This weekend, the Buckeyes are back to that grind. The schedule takes them on their longest trip – over 2,000 miles away to Cathedral City, Calif. and the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. This one, though, will be different for several players on the Buckeyes’ roster. Because while they’ll be a long way from Columbus, the truth is that they’ll be right at home.
Two of them – seniors Mariah Rodriguez and Taylor Pack – have waited their entire careers for this experience. In what is a tradition in the program, each out-of-state players is taken back to their home state at least once in the careers. This is that such trip for Rodriguez and Pack, who are from Orange and Lakewood, Calif., respectively. Both cities are near Los Angeles and separated by just 25 miles.
“I remember when I made the decision to play at Ohio State, Coach [Kelly Kovach Schoenly] told us that usually we try to play in the hometown of the seniors,” said Pack. “I honestly have been looking forward to playing back home since then. Not to mention I used to go and watch this tournament when I was in high school hoping one day I can represent a university on those fields.”
Rodriguez and Pack have waited longer than most for their homecoming. As freshmen, their first season was cancelled early due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In 2021, all of Ohio State’s non-conference games were scraped due to the Big Ten-only schedule. Finally, this spring, the Mary Nutter Classic rotated back on the Buckeyes’ schedule.
“Playing back home means a lot to me,” said Rodriguez. “I’m most excited to play in front of my family and friends, especially my dad who has never seen me play in college. I’m really looking forward to making new softball memories in California.”
Located two hours east of Los Angeles, Cathedral City sits in the desert just south of Palm Springs. The list of teams competing this weekend makes it the premier event of the calendar. The Buckeyes’ slate begins on Friday night when they take on CSUN (formally known as Cal State Northridge) and continues Saturday with games against Oregon State and San Diego State. It wraps up Sunday with a single game versus Utah before the team returns home to Columbus.
There are five California natives on this year’s roster: Rodriguez, Pack, Kaitlyn Farley (Encinitas, Calif.), Skylar Limon (La Habra, Calif.) and Destinee Noury (Chula Vista, Calif.). Many of them grew up as young softball players attending the event. And because of that, this weekend becomes a full circle event in their lives.
“I’m looking forward to seeing my friends and family, and even old teammates from travel ball that I know will be there,” said Pack.
