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Buckeye Softball Team Splits the Weekend in Hoosier State
Ohio State wins one at Indiana and one in Purdue
By Kevin Schlosser

The Ohio State softball team won two games on a three-day, four-game trip through Indiana. The Buckeyes used a two-run home run to rally to beat the Hoosiers 3-2 on Friday; they were shutout 4-0 in the second game with Indiana on Saturday, and split their doubleheader with Purdue on Sunday; winning the first game 7-4 before losing 3-1 in the second.

OSU returns to Columbus with a 25-16 overall record at 4-8 in the Big Ten. Indiana is currently12-27 and 2-8 this season while Purdue closed the weekend at 28-11 and 5-3 in the Big Ten.

“We challenged our kids to play harder and with more heart,” said OSU head coach Linda Kalafatis after the doubleheader. “We’re getting to the end of the season and these games have a great impact on whether our season will continue or not.”

Kalafatis saw reasons for optimism with the way her team played on Friday as they ended a six game losing streak.

“Kim settled in and threw great,” commented Kalafatis.

“We still left too many runners on base, but we’re getting close and we hit some balls right at them. Any time you have nine hits and strike out twelve of their batters, you should win, but I’m happy with our defense and the fact we didn’t commit an error today."

While Ohio State is continuing to progress that did not translate into success on Saturday as they were one-hit and shut out. The Buckeyes bounced back with a win against Purdue on Sunday before losing the second game to split the doubleheader and their weekend road trip.

“Megan Miller had a terrific day in the first game. I thought we really attacked offensively,” asserted Kalafatis.

“We had one senior out there (Vanderink) and everyone else was a freshman or a sophomore, so we’re young and we want to continue to grow. We just have to count on our kids continuing to give us that amount of energy.”

“I thought Kim (Reeder) threw pretty well in the second game, Purdue obviously got a big hit with that home run,” concluded Kalafatis. “Our kids played really hard, we just weren’t able to sustain any good rallies.”

Ohio State will begin an eight-game home stand on Wednesday with a doubleheader against Kentucky. Next weekend they will host Michigan for a two game series on Friday and Saturday with Penn State making the trip for a Sunday afternoon doubleheader.

With only eight Big Ten games on their remaining schedule, the Buckeyes need to develop some consistency and put together some wins if they want to be playing in May. Last season the top eight teams advanced to the Big Ten Tournament and they are currently in eighth place in the conference at the end of play on Sunday.

Ohio State 3 vs. Indiana 2: Game 1 (Friday)

OSU took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI single by Brittany Goodchild that drove in Tory Haddad. Indiana tied the score with a homerun in the bottom of the inning and took a 2-1 lead with a RBI double in the third. Ohio State rallied to retake the lead in the sixth when Sam Marder drove in Dee Dee Hillman with a two-out, two-run home run.

Junior Kim Reeder (13-9) pitched her fifteenth complete game this season to earn the victory for OSU. She retired fourteen of the final fifteen batters she faced and set a career high with twelve strikeouts. As a team the Buckeyes had nine hits and six walks; Brittany Vanderink and Brittany Goodchild each had two hits.

Ohio State 0 vs. Indiana 4: Game 2 (Saturday)

The Hoosiers got creative in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead by using a suicide squeeze to score the first run of the game. After a scoreless second, Brittany Goodchild led off the third with a single but was left stranded. Indiana scored another run in the third and two in the second. Ohio State had two walks in the sixth but could not score as the Hoosiers won the 4-0 one-hitter.

Kim Reeder (13-10) pitched her second complete game in a row to take the loss for OSU. In defeat she became the sixth Buckeye pitcher to amass over 500 career innings pitched. Reeder has the rest of this season and next year to build on the record. Sam Marder was walked in all three of her plate appearances.

Ohio State 7 vs. Purdue 4: Game 1 (Sunday)

The Buckeyes built a 3-0 lead with one in the second and two in the third. The Boilermakers used a three-run home run to tie the score in the bottom of the third. Ohio State retook the lead with one in the fourth and three more in third. Purdue came back with a single run in the sixth but could get no closer as OSU won 7-4.

Sophomore Megan Miller (6-3) pitched her fourth complete game this season for the victory. This was the first Big Ten win of her career. Seven different Buckeyes had a hit and the team scored six of their seven runs with two outs. Rebecca Schultz, Rachel Shepherd, and Whitney Cooper each had two hits, Sam Marder five walks, and Brittany Vanderink had two RBI to lead the team.

Ohio State 1 vs. Purdue 3: Game 2 (Sunday)

OSU sophomore Sam Marder was moved up to the leadoff spot for the series and led off the game with a walk. She was sacrificed over to third and scored on Tory Haddad’s RBI single to give Ohio State a 1-0 advantage. Purdue came back in the third with two-run home run to take the lead and added another run in the fifth to build a 3-1 lead. The Boilermakers held the Buckeyes scoreless the final two innings to earn the split with the victory.

Kim Reeder (13-11) pitched her third complete game of the weekend but took the loss for OSU. Brittany Vanderink had an infield single in the sixth to become the sixth Buckeye with two-hundredth career hits and Tory Haddad had two hits.

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