Offense Carries Ohio State to 15-7 win over Abilene Christian

Saturday, February 14

Austin, Texas

9:30 a.m. CT // 10:30 a.m. ET

Ohio State

4-3

Abilene Christian

0-11

Abilene Christian

Ohio State

Offense Carries Ohio State to 15-7 win over Abilene Christian

2/14/2026 5:12:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Cruse, Ricks, Cullen and Wilhelm all homer in the victory

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State scored a season-high 15 runs on Saturday morning and defeated Abilene Christian, 15-7, on the middle day of its three-day trip to Austin, Texas for the Bevo Classic. The win improved the Buckeyes' record on the season to 4-3.

Remaining Schedule Altered
Ohio State was scheduled to face No. 2 Texas on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET, but due to rain and thunderstorms in the area, that game was postponed and will now be played tomorrow at noon ET.

With the rescheduled game, the Buckeyes will play twice tomorrow to conclude the weekend. They'll meet Syracuse at 9:30 a.m. ET and then wrap up the weekend against the Longhorns at approximately noon ET.

A link to live stats for both games can be found of the softball schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com. The Ohio State/Texas game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

How It Happened – Ohio State 15, Abilene Christian 7 (5 innings)

The Buckeyes jumped ahead early with a two-run home run off the bat of Abbie Wilhelm, scoring Taylor Cruse, in the home half of the first inning.
Freshman Reese Cullen, who made her first start of the weekend at catcher and second of the season, followed suit in the bottom of the second, launching a two-run shot that scored Skylar Limon and put Ohio State in front 4-0. The homer was Cullen's first as a Buckeye.
Run scoring hits by Abbie Wilhelm and Hailey Lang added two more runs, giving Ohio State a 6-0 lead through two innings.
The Wildcats cut the lead in half with a Jadyn Dawson three-run home run in the top of the third inning.
Ohio State jumped back up by six with a RBI ground out from Izzy Neal that scored Cullen. Cruse followed up with Ohio State's third home run of the game, a two-run shot that scored Kailea Ricks and gave the Buckeyes a 9-3 lead through three innings.
Emalee Romero added a run for ACU in the fourth with a solo home run, making the score 9-4 in favor of the Buckeyes.
Ohio State got the run back and then some in the fourth inning, when Skylar Limon doubled to score Sami Bewick and Sara Tarr. Ricks then sent her first career home run out the yard, scoring Limon and putting Ohio State up 13-4.
ACU tacked on three runs in the top of the fifth with Ari Maxwell and Audrey Lacina adding RBI singles.
Ohio State slammed the door in the fifth, with an RBI single from Sami Bewick and an RBI triple from Skylar Limon to take a 15-7 lead and end the game in five innings.
Sophomore pitcher Lorin Boutte earned her first win of the season, going 3.1 innings while allowing just one earned run, and striking out a season-best four batters.
Seven Buckeyes would record at least one hit, with Cruse, Wilhelm, Ricks, and Limon all having multiple hits. Those four, along with Cullen, registered multiple RBI as well. Ricks went a perfect 2-for-2 in her first start of the season.
Other big Buckeyes bats came from Wilhelm (3-for-4, two doubles, one home run, three RBI), Limon (2-for-3, three RBI, two runs scored) and Cruse (2-for-4, home run, two RBI).

This and That on the Buckeyes

In three games this weekend at the Bevo Classic, Limon has six hits in nine at-bats with a double, triple, home run and five RBI. She's reached base in seven of her 10 plate appearances.
Two other players – Lang and Wilhelm – are also each batting over .600 this weekend. Lang is 5-for-8 (.625) and Wilhelm is 6-for-10 (.600) with four extra base hits (two doubles, two home runs).
As a team, Ohio State's offense has produced a .415 team batting average, 17 extra base hits, including nine home runs and six doubles, 28 runs scored (9.3 runs/game) and a .489 on-base percentage.