Ohio State
10-6
Tennessee
18-4
Buckeyes Split on Final Day in Knoxville vs. Tennessee & South Dakota
3/10/2024 7:24:00 PM | Softball
Ohio State pulls away late to defeat South Dakota, 5-3, and finish 3-2 on the weekend
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Ohio State softball team was able to finish the Tennessee Invitational with a winning record, thanks to a 5-3 triumph over South Dakota in the second game of a Sunday doubleheader. The Buckeyes dropped the opener to No. 8 Tennessee, 11-0 in five innings, but bounced back to improve their record to 11-6 on the season.
This weekend's games completed the first half of Ohio State's spring break trip, which continues this weekend with midweek contests at Belmont (Tuesday) and Austin Peay (Wednesday).
Game One: Tennessee 11, Ohio State 0 (5 inn.)
The Buckeyes went pitch for pitch with Tennessee for the first two innings, as starting pitcher Emily Ruck kept the Lady Vols off the scoreboard.
Two Tennessee runs crossed the plate in the third inning, however, before the Lady Vols got the first of two grand slams to take a 6-0 lead. An RBI double in the fourth inning increased UT's lead to 7-0 and the game ended on a grand slam for the 11-0 final.
Ohio State's three hits in the game came from Jasmyn Burns, Tegan Cortelletti and Kaitlyn Farley. In the circle, Ruck pitched 3.0 innings and struck out two before giving way to Lexi Paulsen, who went the final 1.2 innings of the game.
Game Two: Ohio State 5, South Dakota 3
Ohio State wasted little time jumping ahead against South Dakota, manufacturing a run in the first inning thanks to a Tegan Cortelletti walk, sac bunt by Taylor Heckman and RBI single from Jasmyn Burns. The RBI by Burns was her team-leading 17th of the season.
Burns would add to that RBI total in the third inning, as she scored Cortelletti – who had singled and stole second – on an RBI single to right center. Later, in the bottom of the sixth inning with the Buckeyes holding onto a slim 2-1 lead, Burns homered to right center. She finished 3-for-3 on the game with three RBI.
The Buckeyes would add two critical insurance runs via a McKenzie Bump RBI single and run-scoring double by Kirsten Eppele. Those runs were the difference in the game, as North Dakota loaded the bases in the top of the seventh inning, but back-to-back Julia Miller strikeouts ended the threat. Miller also got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning. She picked up her first save of the season, going 1.2 innings with four strikeouts.
In addition to Burns' game at the plate, Bump also had two hits while Cortelletti reached base in two of her three plate appearances.
That and That
- Ohio State was playing at Tennessee's Sherri Parker Lee Stadium for the fifth time since 2016. The other four appearances were for NCAA Regionals.
- Coming into Sunday's games, the duo of Tegan Cortelletti and Kami Kortokrax had 10 hits in 20 at-bats. On the strength of three home runs in wins on Friday vs. Missouri State and South Dakota, Kortokrax also had a 1.444 slugging percentage and team-best six RBI.
- Entering Sunday, Cortelletti's 17 hits were the most on the team. With 84 hits in 146 career games, she's on pace to become the second player this season to reach 100 career hits.
- She finished the weekend with a .533 batting average (eight hits in 15 at-bats) and a .566 on-base percentage.
- Burns' three RBI on Sunday were one shy of her career high, which was set earlier this season vs. Southeast Missouri State (five). It was the fourth time this season she's had multiple RBI in a game.
- Burns also had a big weekend defensively. She threw out three baserunners from behind the plate, including Tennessee's Kiki Milloy. Milloy stole 40 bases last year and entering Saturday's game had been successful in 56 of her last 58 steal attempts.
- The Buckeyes' Sunday schedule was impacted by weather in the Knoxville area on Saturday. Ohio State was originally scheduled to play twice on Saturday and once on Sunday, but rain pushed back the schedule on Saturday and allowed Ohio State and Tennessee to play just once on Saturday night.
What's Next
With spring break on tap this week, the Buckeyes will stay in the state of Tennessee and make a trip to Nashville tomorrow in advance of a game versus Belmont on Tuesday at 3 p.m. That contest will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Karlyn Pickens (9-2)
L: Ruck, Emily (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Laura Mealer 1 ; Taylor Pannell 1
HR: Zaida Puni 1 ; Sophia Nugent 1
RBI: Zaida Puni 4 ; McKenna Gibson 1 ; Laura Mealer 1 ; Sophia Nugent 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Kiki Milloy 3 ; Zaida Puni 1 ; Katie Taylor 1 ; Amanda Ahlin 1 ; Laura Mealer 1 ; Destiny Rodriguez 1 ; Jackie Kirkpatrick 1 ; Sophia Nugent 1 ; Bella Faw 1
CS: Kiki Milloy 1
HBP: Destiny Rodriguez 1
