Smith Tosses a No-Hitter As Ohio State Clinches Series Win vs. Purdue

Sunday, April 23

Columbus, Ohio

Ohio State

30-15, 0

Purdue

21-26, 0

Purdue

Ohio State

Smith Tosses a No-Hitter As Ohio State Clinches Series Win vs. Purdue

4/23/2023 3:57:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Allison Smith's no-hitter highlighted Ohio State's 9-0 win over Purdue on Sunday that clinched the weekend series in favor of the Buckeyes. Ohio State is 30-15 on the season and improved to 10-7 in Big Ten play. Purdue of 21-26 overall and falls to 4-13 in the conference.

The Short Story
Smith's no-hitter – the first of her collegiate career – was backed up on offense by an 11-hit attack. Meggie Otte (2-for-3, home run and a triple) and Sam Hackenbracht (2-for-3, triple) both drove in three runs while Mariah Rodriguez had a hit and two RBI, McKenzie Bump went 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles and Jaycee Ruberti had an RBI single.

Ohio State scored three times in the first inning, twice in the second and busted the game open with a four-run fourth inning that was highlighted by a two-run home run by Otte. Smith, meanwhile, struck out seven over five innings and allowed just four baserunners. She improved to 16-9 on the season.

How The Runs Were Scored

All three of the runs that crossed the plate for Ohio State in the bottom of the first inning came with two outs.
Kami Kortokrax started the rally with a double – her team-leading 13th of the season – and Hackenbracht followed with a triple that made the score 1-0.
Otte made it back-to-back first inning triples and drove in Hackenbracht, which was then followed by a RBI single up the middle from Ruberti to make the score 3-0.
After Purdue was retired in order in the second, Hackenbracht came through with yet another clutch two-out hit that scored Bump and Wilkison and gave Ohio State a 5-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Otte's two-run home run went to right field and was her fifth of the season.
Rodriguez plated Ohio State's eighth and ninth runs on the game with a two-out single to right field.

Buckeye That and That

Otte, a fifth-year senior, is now batting a career-best .287 on the season with 31 RBI, 24 runs scored and 16 extra base hits.
In three games this weekend, she hit .556 with a home run, double, triple and six RBI.
Sunday's no-hitter was the high point in a week for Smith in which she started three times and struck out 24 batters in 16.2 innings.
She now has 179 strikeouts on the season, which is the third-most on any pitcher in the Big Ten.
The trio of Hackenbracht (.545), Rodriguez (.538) and Otte (.500) swung the hottest bats last week. They combined for 18 of the team's 31 RBI in four games.
Rodriguez has a hit in eight consecutive games, her longest such streak of the season.
Ohio State has won four of its five Big Ten weekend series.
Overall, the Buckeyes are 8-2 in their last 10 games with seven of those wins coming against Big Ten opponents.
A sell-out crowd of 1,605 was on hand Sunday. Combined with Saturday's attendance, nearly 3,500 fans came to Buckeye Field over the final two days of the weekend series.
Ohio State reached the 30-win mark for the ninth time in head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly's tenue with the Buckeyes.

What's Next
Ohio State will host Minnesota next weekend for its final three regular season home games. The Buckeyes and Gophers meet on Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at noon.

While admission to Buckeye Field will be free next weekend, fans will be asked to reserve a ticket to ensure entry to the stadium. To claim a ticket to any of the upcoming games, fans should visit: https://fevo.me/osusoftball