Buckeyes Wrap Up Play at Clearwater Invitational

Sunday, February 16

Clearwater, Fla.

10:00 A.M.

Ohio State

5-3

Clemson

4-6

Ohio State

Clemson

Photo by: Mary Holt

Buckeyes Wrap Up Play at Clearwater Invitational

2/16/2025 4:09:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Ohio State falls to Clemson, ties UCF and is 5-3-1 on the season

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Ohio State softball team closed out play at the Clearwater Invitational on Sunday with a 11-3 loss to Clemson and a 4-4 rain-shortened tie against UCF. The Buckeyes are now 5-3-1 on the season and played four teams this weekend that were either ranked or receiving votes the NFCHA Top 25 poll last week.

How It Happened
For the second time in as many days, sophomore Hadley Parisien started off a game with a home run to center field, when she took Clemson pitcher Brook Melnychuk deep on the third pitch of the game for an early 1-0 Ohio State lead. Sami Bewick and Morgan Frye would follow with RBI singles to give the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead before Clemson came to bat.

The Tigers, however, plated four runs in the bottom of the first and then two more in the second inning to go ahead 6-3. Clemson tacked on two more solo home runs in the fourth inning to increase its lead to 8-3. The game then ended on a three-run home run by Clemson in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Kennedy Kay, Lorin Boutte and Kassandra Gewecke all saw time in the circle, with Boutte finishing the afternoon with a team-high five strikeouts. She threw 66 pitches in four complete innings. At the plate, Parisian, Frye and Bewick combined to go 5-for-9 with two extra base hits and three RBI.

Just like against Clemson, Ohio State took an early lead against UCF in its second game of the day thanks to the long ball. This time, Kaitlyn Farley drove a 1-2 pitch off of Knights pitcher Isabella Vega to give the Buckeyes a 1-0 advantage in the second inning. It was Farley's first home run of the season and the eighth of her career.

That lead would last until the bottom of the third inning when UCF loaded the bases and delivered a three-run triple that put the Knights ahead 4-1. Ohio State scratched a run across in the top of the fourth inning on Kami Kortokrax's RBI single, which scored Bewick, who had doubled to lead off the inning. And in the fifth, Ohio State tied the game on a Cadyn Ruffer home run – the first of her career – and a sacrifice fly.

Rain came into the Clearwater area in the top of the sixth inning after Ohio State had taken a 5-4 lead. Because the inning wasn't completed, the game reverted back to the end of the fifth inning and resulted in the 4-4 tie.

What's Next
The Buckeyes continue their early-season road trip next weekend with five games scheduled in Evansville, Ind. Ohio State is slated to play Evansville twice, Central Michigan, Saint Louis and UT Martin. More information on live stats and streaming will be available on the softball homepage of OhioStateBuckeyes.com.