Softball
Michigan Shuts out Ohio State
By Kevin Schlosser(Columbus, OH) The Ohio State softball hosted sixth-ranked Michigan on Friday night for the first game of a two game-series at Buckeye Field. While both teams showed up to play, only the Wolverines were able to cross home plate as they won an 8-0 shutout. With the loss OSU drops to 27-17 and 4-9 in the Big Ten while Michigan improved to 40-4 and 12-1 in conference.
Junior Kim Reeder kept the Wolverines off balance and off the scoreboard for the first three innings by working ahead in the count with the Buckeyes making plays behind her. Michigan put two runners aboard in both the second and third innings but Reeder got herself out of the jams with a strikeout to end the second and Dee Dee Hillman made an amazing catch to close the third.
Hillman’s energy transferred from defense to offense in the bottom half of the third. With two outs she bunted and beat out the throw for an infield single for the first Ohio State hit of the game. Sam Marder was hit by a pitch to give the Buckeyes two base runners but Brittany Goodchild grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.
For the third straight inning, the Wolverines put the leadoff runner on in the fourth inning and after a second straight walk, Reeder gave up a three-run homerun to Dorian Shaw. She struck out the next batter but the walk proved deadly again. With a single to give Michigan runners on first and third they scored on a double steal. The Wolverines added two more runs before sophomore Megan Miller came in to get the last batter to groundout to first to end the inning.
Trailing 6-0 senior Brittany Vanderink led off the fourth with a single and never left first as the next three Buckeyes went down in order. Miller retired the first two batters in the fifth and stranded a runner on second when she struck out Teddi Ewing looking to end the inning. Ohio State went down in order in the bottom half the fifth.
Michigan tacked on two unearned runs in the top of the sixth as a result of three errors by the Buckeyes. Despite being down 8-0 Ohio State was aggressive in the sixth. Brittany Goodchild grounded out to leadoff. Brittany Vanderink picked up her second hit of the game by beating out a bunt for the infield single. Tory Haddad flied out to deep center. In a play the coaches felt the Wolverines dropped the ball, Vanderink was thrown out stealing to end the game.
“We knew the lefty match up would be a challenge especially with the repertoire that Nemitz throws. Most of our lefties are very young players. I was pretty satisfied with our at bats and our ability to make adjustments,” said OSU head coach Linda Kalafatis. “The things that you don’t see in the stats we felt good about; and we have been struggling with that lately.”
Despite being shutout for the second-straight game, the Buckeyes looked like a different team than they did Wednesday night. They were aggressive on the mound, in the field, at the plate, and on the base paths.
“We had a long and forceful discussion (yesterday) about how hard we were playing and the effort we have been giving,” asserted Kalafatis.
“I am not sure the score was representative of how hard we played. We made some mistakes and gave up some walks that were really hurtful, but I think our effort and the ability to stick together as a team was very, very good.”
Starter Kim Reeder challenged the hitters early and worked ahead in the count the first three innings. In getting pulled in the fourth, her walks were as detrimental as the homerun. Megan Miller relieved and retired five of the first six batters she faced before three errors gave the Wolverines their last two runs. Kim Reeder (14-12) took the loss for the Buckeyes.
“We didn’t execute some of the plays we called and because of that they scored a couple of runs,” continued Kalafatis. “While they don’t show up as errors we know where the ball was suppose to go and what we were suppose to do.”
“Our kids are optimistic about tomorrow,” concluded Kalafatis. “As bad as the score looks they feel confident and believe they are coming back together as a team.”
The second game of the OSU-UM series is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Ohio State will host Penn State at noon on Sunday for a doubleheader to conclude the weekend.
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