Sports
Ohio Softball Sweeps Doubleheader With Wright State
< < Back to ohio-softball-sweeps-doubleheader-wright-stateThe Ohio Bobcats (21-22) won both games of their doubleheader with Wright State on Thursday and broke their nine-game losing streak. Ohio’s pitching and hitting were on, and it helped to defeat the Raiders, 5-1 and 13-1.
Chelsea Hortman and Alyssa Wolfe, two unexpected heroes, led the Ohio offense that had been struggling in the losing streak. Each had five RBIs on the day.
“I was really proud of both of them for picking it up today,” Ohio head coach Jodi Hermanek said. “The team as a whole voted both of them as the player of the day.”
Game One:
Hortman did most of her damage in the first matchup. She recorded a hit and an RBI in all three of her at-bats, and was just a double short of hitting for the cycle.
“Chelsea is just fired up,” Hermanek said. “She wants to put the team on her back and she wants to carry them hard and heavy through (all aspects) of the game … She just put the team on her back and lit it up.”
Hortman was not the only Bobcat to put up a solid performance. Savannah Jo Dorsey (10-8, 3.34 ERA) pitched a complete game and allowed just three hits and one earned run. The freshman struck out 10 Wright State hitters and walked just three.
Playing as Ohio’s designated hitter, Hortman sparked the Bobcat’s offense early on. In the first inning and with Lauren Gellerman on first base, Hortman singled to drive in Ohio’s first run.
After allowing a first-inning run, Wright State pitcher Montana Wear was able to keep the bats of the Green and White quiet until the fourth inning. It was then that Hortman struck again with a lead-off home run to put Ohio up, 2-0. First baseman Caitlin Colvin also homered in the inning to give her team a three-run lead.
In the fifth inning, Wright State picked up its only run when Dorsey walked in a run with the bases loaded. Hortman responded to the Raider’s score with an RBI-triple in the bottom half of the fifth.
A double by Wolfe in the bottom of the sixth drove in the Bobcat’s final run and Ohio won, 5-1.
Game Two:
With most of Hortman’s work done in game one, it was Wolfe’s turn to provide for her team. She homered twice in the game and had four RBIs.
The Bobcats’ starting pitcher pitched another complete game, this time coming from Lauren McClary (8-12, 4.07 ERA). She allowed just one run on two hits in five innings.
McClary needed just five innings for her complete game because the Bobcats were hitting the ball well enough to mercy the Raiders.
All hitters in Ohio’s starting lineup scored at least one run, and seven ‘Cats got at least one hit. Wolfe got things rolling for Ohio in what became an eight-run second inning. She hit a three-run blast to left center to knock in Ohio’s first runs.
Sloan Walker doubled to left center to drive in a run, and she was driven in with a single by Gellerman. Hortman picked up another RBI with a double, and finally Colvin hit a double that drove in the final runs of the inning.
With the score at 8-0 in the bottom of the third, Wolfe came through again for Ohio with a solo home run.
“They were throwing me a lot of outside pitches and that’s the pitch that I know I can drive, so it was the only zone I was looking for,” Wolfe said.
Hortman picked up her final RBI of the night with the bases loaded, as a run scored on her sacrifice fly and another scored on an error. Finally, Adrienne Gebele got involved in the scoring action and drove in a run on a single. After the end of the third, Ohio led, 12-0.
While the Bobcats hit their fair share of home runs, Hermanek said that she was happier to see her team hitting line drives.
In the top of the fourth, Wright State got its first hit with a Taylor Knore single and its first run with an RBI single by Colleen Schneider.
Tessa Bailey manufactured Ohio’s 13th run in the bottom half of the fourth with good base running. She reached on single, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out and then stole home.
Ohio’s 19 runs scored today were as many as they scored in the past seven games of its losing streak.
“This is the kind of attack that we were supplying early in the season,” Hermanek said. “It was awesome for us to see and feel that again and be reunited with that good feeling of driving the ball.”
On picking up two home wins and breaking the losing streak, Hermanek said, “(We) needed it, wanted it, were hungry for it and it’s the best thing that we could have done for ourselves to lead us into the next ten games of conference play.”
The Bobcats will look to make a new streak – a winning one – when they restart Mid-American Conference play and travel to take on the Akron Zips on Saturday. The game will be the first of a two-game weekend series. First pitch on Saturday is set for 2 p.m.