Four Buckeyes Garner Big Ten Recognition
5/10/2023 10:13:00 AM | Softball
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Just hours before their opening game in the 2023 Big Ten Softball Tournament, four Ohio State were honored by the conference on Wednesday morning with league awards.
Sophomores Kami Kortokrax (shortstop) and Melina Wilkison (outfield) were first team All-Big Ten honorees while senior Sam Hackenbracht (designated player) was a second team selection. Fifth-year senior Meggie Otte was Ohio State's Sportsmanship Honoree. Kortokrax was also a member of the league's All-Defensive Team.
The sixth-seeded Buckeyes, who were 32-19 overall and 12-11 in the Big Ten during the regular season, open Big Ten Tournament play at noon today in an opening round game against 11th-seeded Rutgers.
A native of Westerville, has started all 51 games this season at shortstop and batted .338 in 23 conference games with a .575 slugging percentage and .411 on-base percentage. She also had four home runs and 19 RBI in conference play, to go along with a .974 fielding percentage that included just four errors.
Kortokrax has five multi-RBI games in Big Ten play, including two in a crucial 2-1 win over Nebraska last Friday. She also had a trio of three-hit games: 3-for-4 with four RBI at Indiana, 3-for-3 with three runs scored vs. Indiana and 3-for-4 in the aforementioned 2-1 win at Nebraska.
Wilkison, from Greensburg, Ind., finished the Big Ten season with a .784 slugging percentage, .430 on-base percentage, 17 RBI and a .311 batting average. She finished ranked in the top 10 in the league in slugging, home runs (seven), runs scored (27), total bases (58) and triples (four).
Wilkison had at least one hit in 16 of the Buckeyes' 23 Big Ten games. Her top showing was a 2-for-4 performance with four RBI in a series-clinching win at Illinois. She also had three RBI in a win over Michigan.
Wednesday's honors are the second in the respective careers for Kortokrax and Wilkison. Last year, they were both members of the league's All-Freshman Team.
Hackenbracht earned her third career All-Big Ten honor for a season that saw her lead the team with a .421 batting average in conference. She also knocked in a team-best 24 runs and had a .737 slugging percentage, which was sixth-best in the conference. Overall, she ranked in the top five in the conference in four categories: batting average (fourth – .421), hits (third – 32), RBI (fourth – 24) and total bases (fifth – 56).
The Massillon, Ohio native had 11 multi-hit and six multi-RBI games in conference. Her five home runs came against five different teams and the Buckeyes were 4-1 in those games.
Otte, an East Sparta, Ohio native, is a fifth-year senior who recently played in her 200th career game. She's having the best statistical season of her career in 2023, batting .296 in conference play with eight doubles and 19 RBI.
