No. 21 Ohio State Splits Friday Doubleheader at Illinois

Friday, May 2

Urbana-Champaign, Ill.

3:00 P.M. EST / 2:00 P.M. CST

Ohio State

41-10-1, 14-6

Illinois

22-26, 6-13

Ohio State

Illinois

No. 21 Ohio State Splits Friday Doubleheader at Illinois

5/2/2025 9:09:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Buckeyes bounce back from 9-5 setback to win the second game, 2-0

COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 21 Ohio State split a doubleheader at Illinois on Friday, dropping the first game 9-5 before rebounding for a 2-0 shutout of the Illini in the nightcap. The Buckeyes are 42-11-1 on the season and 15-6 in Big Ten play with just one regular season game remaining.

Lorin Boutte tossed a complete game shutout in the second game, improving to 19-8 on the season. She was backed up by a solo home run from sophomore catcher Hailey Lang and run-scoring hit from Hadley Parisien. The Buckeyes were able to work around Illinois baserunners thanks to a pair of double plays in the fourth and sixth innings, respectively.

Illinois 9, Ohio State 5: How It Happened

Illinois loaded the bases twice in the bottom of the second inning and were able to push across runs on an RBI single and infield pop up that scored a runner from third.
The Buckeyes responded with four runs on three hits in the top of the third inning, highlighted by a three-run home run off the bat of Kami Kortokrax, which was her 18th of the season and fifth in the last five games.
Illinois loaded the bases on a walk, hit by pitch and error in the bottom of the fourth inning before Pagie Berkmeyer's grand slam gave the Illini the lead back at 6-4.
Kaitlyn Farley got a run back in the bottom half of the fifth inning on a run-scoring triple that brought Sami Bewick home. Illinois would answer, however, when it plated a run in the home half on a wild pitch to make the score 7-5.
Delaney Mosley's two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Illinois its largest lead of the day at 9-5.

Ohio State 2, Illinois 0: How It Happened

In the second game, the Buckeyes worked two walks and used a sacrifice bunt to put runners in scoring position and eventually scratched across a run on a fielder's choice that scored Sami Bewick.
Hailey Lang doubled the Ohio State lead in the top of the fourth inning when she hit a solo home run to right center. It was her second homer of the season.
Those runs would be enough for Boutte, who was aided by two late-game double plays while scattering five hits over seven innings.
Kortokrax went 2-for-3 in the game with two doubles and finished her day with a home run, two doubles and three RBI.

Buckeye This and That

The Buckeyes' first double of the day – which was off the bat of Morgan Frye in the seventh inning of the first game – was a historical one. It established a new-single season record (92) and bested the previous mark of 91 set 23 years ago in 2002.
The win by Boutte was her 19th of the year, putting her just two wins shy of tying Melanie Nichols for the most by a freshman pitcher. Nichols won 21 games in 2010 for the Buckeyes.
Leah Sax, a senior member of the women's lacrosse team, made her softball debut on Friday. Sax officially joined the team yesterday and was inserted as a pinch runner in the sixth inning. She finished her lacrosse season two weeks ago and was a team captain in 2025.

What's Next
The third and final game of this weekend's series is scheduled to take place tomorrow – Saturday – and is scheduled for 1 p.m. Live stats will be available on the schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com. B1G+ will stream the game as well.