Ohio State
Purdue (Quarterfinals)
Big Ten Tournament Play Opens Thursday at Purdue
5/7/2025 7:37:00 AM | Softball
Buckeyes will face either Northwestern or Purdue in the quarterfinals
COLUMBUS, Ohio – After a 55-game regular season, a new chapter starts for the Ohio State softball team this weekend as the Buckeyes open postseason play at the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday night. The Buckeyes, the fourth seed, will square off against either fifth-seeded Northwestern or 12th-seeded Purdue at 7 p.m. in West Lafayette, Ind.
Coverage Plans
Each game of the Big Ten tournament will be available on Big Ten Network. Updates for the Buckeyes can be found via the live stats link on the schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com, as well as on Ohio State's official X, @OhioStateSB.
The Basics
No. 22 Ohio State vs. Northwestern or Purdue | Thursday, May 8 | 7 p.m. | West Lafayette, Ind.
Watch: BTN | Live Stats | Tournament Central
The Tournament Field
Like in year's past, the Big Ten Tournament includes 12 teams and is single elimination. The top four seeds – Oregon, UCLA, Nebraska and Ohio State – earned first round byes and will begin play on Thursday. Wednesday features four first-round games involving seeds five through 12.
Two semifinal games will be played on Friday (5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.) and the championship game is set for Saturday beginning at 4 p.m.
The Big Ten Tournament champion will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State finished 12-5 this season against teams in this year's Big Ten Tournament.
Basics on the Buckeyes
- Ohio State enters tournament play with a 43-11-1 record and finished with a 16-6 mark in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 22 this week in the NFCA and USA Softball national polls.
- The Buckeyes did not face Northwestern in the regular season but did earn a three-game sweep over Purdue April 26-27. Ohio State won by scores of 10-3, 13-4 and 2-0.
- Every starter in Ohio State's lineup is batting .300 or better. The Buckeyes have the nation's 15th-highest team batting average and leads the nation in home runs (134), slugging percentage (.709), walks (265), extra base hits (243) and runs scored (467).
- The pitching staff is made up of three true freshmen – Lorin Boutte (19-8, 3.71 ERA, 136.0 innings pitched), Layna Gerhard (7-0, 4.20 ERA, 61.2 innings pitched) and Kassandra Gewecke (4-0, 2.83 ERA, 34.2 innings pitched) – along with fourth-year junior Kennedy Kay (13-3, 5.00 ERA, 98.0 innings pitched).
The Regular Season That Was
- This season's 134 home runs, 444 RBIs, and 96 doubles all set new program records. The RBI record stood since 2015 alongside the home run metric, and the record for doubles (91) had stood since 2002.
- Heading into the tournament, the Buckeyes are batting .343 as a team, with each starter hitting .305 or better, with seven of those individuals recording 10 or more home runs.
- This season's schedule included 26 games against teams with an RPI of 75 or better, 13 of which came against conference competition. The Buckeyes went 16-9-1 in those games, with four individuals batting above .316.
- Cruse recorded half of her home runs (seven of 14) this season against Top 75 teams, bringing in a team leading 26 RBI in 45 at-bats.
- Boutté was as consistent against Top 75 teams as she was with other opponents. Her nine wins over Top 75 teams were nearly half of her season total and she totaled 60 strikeouts in those 19 appearances.
- Ohio State registered 20 run-rule wins in 2025 and scored 10 or more runs in 24 games. The Buckeyes are 36-3 this season when scoring six or more runs.
Possible Matchups
- Ohio State will either face Purdue or Northwestern in the quarterfinal. Purdue finished with a regular season record of 28-22, going 9-13 in the Big Ten, while Northwestern was 29-17-1 overall with a 16-6 mark in the Big Ten thanks to a series win at UCLA last weekend.
- Leadoff hitter Moriah Polar continues to lead the Purdue offense with an average of .444, a mark that is fifth best among Big Ten hitters.
- Northwestern is fresh off a big series win at No. 8 UCLA, taking two of the three games, one of which came via an 8-0 run rule.
- The Wildcats finished the regular season batting .291 as a team, with four individuals hitting .340 or better.
- Pitcher Lauren Boyd was named the D1Softball National Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday for her showing last weekend at UCLA, which included a pair of wins and a 1.62 ERA over 13.0 innings.
