Buckeyes Earn Big Ten Postseason Recognition
5/8/2024 10:41:00 AM | Softball
Kortokrax, Heckman, Smith, Burns and Eppele all honored by the conference
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Big Ten Conference announced its postseason softball awards on Wednesday morning, and four Ohio State Buckeyes came away with honors. Junior Kami Kortokrax made the first team while seniors Allison Smith and Taylor Heckman were second team choices. Jasmyn Burns earned on a spot on the All-Freshman Team while Kirsten Eppele was Ohio State's Sportsmanship Honoree.
Kortokrax earned first team all-conference honors for the second consecutive year while Smith and Heckman are first-time All-Big Ten honorees. The announcement was made as the Big Ten Tournament is set to get underway on Wednesday at noon ET at Bob Pearl Field in Iowa City on the campus of the University of Iowa.
A Westerville, Ohio native, Kortokrax hit a team-best .389 in 23 Big Ten games to go along with five home runs, 20 RBI, a .736 slugging percentage and .450 on-base percentage. She had at least one hit in 17 of 23 conference games, highlighted by her effort the weekend of April 19-21 when she went 3-for-6 vs. Maryland with two home runs and three RBI to earn Big Ten Player of the Week accolades. What made the performance even more noteworthy was that she left the second game of the series during the first inning with an injury that required an emergency room visit and stitches on her broken nose. The next day, she returned to the lineup and hit a two-run home run in her first at-bat.
In the last nine games – all against Big Ten opponents – Kortokrax is hitting .375 with a 1.000 slugging percentage, four home runs and nine RBI.
Heckman, a senior from Utica, Ohio who had 10 career hits entering this season, has had a breakout season in her final campaign with the scarlet and gray. She started all 23 conference games this spring and was second on the team with a .369 average while also hitting four home runs and driving in 17 runs. She had seven multi-hit games and drove in a career-high four run in the opening game of a doubleheader at Minnesota on April 6. She hit home runs against Northwestern, Minnesota, Maryland and Illinois. In a series sweep vs. Maryland, she went 3-for-9 with four RBI.
Smith was Ohio State's team leader during conference season in innings pitched (79.1), wins (seven), strikeouts (53) and complete games (three). Over her last seven Big Ten starts – vs. Penn State, Maryland, Illinois and Michigan – Smith has allowed just 10 earned runs over 41.2 innings (1.68 ERA) with three complete games. She also saved her best performance for the last: on the final day of the regular season, she pitched a two-hit complete game shutout to clinch a series win at Michigan.
Smith also eclipsed to significant career milestones in 2024: she recorded her 50th career win on April 10 vs. Ohio and her 500th career strikeout on April 12 at Wisconsin.
Burns has played in and started all 50 games this season and has driven in 37 runs – the most of any freshman in the league. She is a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, having earned the award on Feb. 12 and March 11. She enters postseason play with a .299 batting average, nine home runs and a .510 slugging percentage. Her nine home runs are the fourth-most by a freshman in program history. Her best Big Ten series came vs. Illinois when she hit .500 with a home run and three RBI.
Much like Heckman, Eppele also had a breakout season as a senior. She started 47 games – mostly in center field – while hitting .268 with 11 home runs, 37 RBI and scored 35 runs. Last weekend at Michigan, she hit home runs in three consecutive at-bats between the first and second game of the series. On Sunday, she went 2-for-2 with two solo home runs in a 2-1 series-clinching win. She enters the Big Ten Tournament having hit safely in four of the last six games with four home runs and nine RBI.
Sixth-seeded Ohio State will take on 11th-seeded Wisconsin in an opening round game on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 8 p.m. ET. That game – along with the rest of the tournament in its entirety – can be seen live on BTN. A link to live stats will also be available on the softball schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
