Sports
Ohio Softball Splits Weekend Series With Buffalo
By: Kaleb Carter
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Bobcat moms were able to go home happy after Ohio responded offensively in a 6-3 win a day after getting no-hit.
Buffalo hurler Tori Speckman was roughed up just one day after striking out 10 and not allowing a single hit. Speckman surrendered eight hits and six earned runs in six innings of play.
“She was giving us about the same stuff. She had a backdoor curve and a regular curve and an offseason curve, that was about all she was throwing,” Adrienne Gebele said. “I think as a team we saw it through the lineup three times today and were really able to make the adjustment.”
Gebele got the scoring going in the bottom of the first with a massive home run that cleared the scoreboard beyond the centerfield fence. The homer not only put Ohio up 2-0, but gave the Bobcats confidence a day after struggling.
“I just saw the ball, it was a low-pitch and I just drove it,” Gebele said.
The ‘Cats loaded the bases in the third inning and scored two when Speckman suffered a case of wildness. Back-to-back hit batters with the bases loaded resulted in two runs for Ohio.
Kaylin Clarke and Alexandria Basquez later picked up RBI singles in the fifth and sixth for insurance runs.
Ohio fed off the energy of its fans and players in the dugout throughout the afternoon.
“Every little thing, we celebrated it… If we continued having fun, the ball was gonna bounce our way today,” Basquez said.
Especially important to Ohio’s cause was freshman pitcher Leanna Bachman, who was pitching in just her second game as a Bobcat. Bachman has now impressed her fellow Bobcats and team fans by tossing two solid starts, even after not even being recruited as a pitcher.
Bachman induced seven consecutive groundouts to start the game, on top of retiring the first nine batters she faced. She then proceeded to run into a bit of trouble by loading the bases in the top of the fourth.
Jodi Hermanek was once again excited about the performance of her freshman up-and-comer.
“My one request for her was to get us through the lineup one time, and then it’d be a great mix with you and Dorsey,” Hermanek said.
Dorsey came on with no outs in the fourth, and gave up three runs, though all three were attributed to Bachman. Ultimately, Dorsey picked up her 14th win by pitching four innings and only giving up two hits.
Several controversial calls from the third base and home plate umpires prolonged the fourth, but Ohio escaped the inning with the lead.
Gebele finished with two hits, and Clarke, Taylor Saxton, Casie Hutchinson, Alexandria Cortez and Amanda Dalton all contributed one each. Gebele drove in three of the Ohio runs and Basquez knocked in another two.
In the end, Ohio ended the weekend by sending its fans home on a happy note.
“I had six fans, my grandma, my aunt and uncle, my dad came down,” Gebele said. “I’ve always loved playing in front of our own fans.”