Sports
Ohio Softball: Ohio Softball gets Sunday sweep to finish South Carolina trip at .500
By: Michael Roth
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The Ohio Bobcats softball team once again was on the road for a weekend invitational tournament. This time, the Bobcats traveled to Columbia, South Carolina to play four games in the Gamecock Invitational.
In the opening game the Bobcats took on the host South Carolina Gamecocks who entered the invitational ranked 14th in the country according to espn.com/USA softball. Ohio fought with the nationally ranked Gamecocks, but fell 4-2 on the opening day of the tournament. The Bobcat offense struggled as Katie Yun had the only two RBI’s of the game for Ohio and the Bobcats were limited to only four hits on the game. South Carolina had a more balanced offensive effort with eight hits including four doubles, two of those from Madison Owens. Madi McCrady got her first loss of the season on the mound, going 6.0 innings allowing eight hits, four earned runs, and four walks for Ohio.
In the second day of the tournament the Bobcats fell in extra innings to UNC Greensboro. Katie Yun was once again the only Bobcat to drive in any runs with three RBI’s on three hits, including two doubles. Deanna Cole had two hits and Alexa Holland scored twice to try and get the Bobcats their first victory of the weekend, but their efforts fell short. The game went into extra innings and Mackensie Kohl stayed on the mound, but in the 8’th inning she gave up a walk off double to Melanie Darges who drove in Kamryn Graves to win the game for the Spartans.
Ohio had a rough opening two days of the invitational but had the chance to bounce back with two games on Sunday and the Bobcats started the final day with a victory over Campbell 4-3. Ohio batted around and got 12 hits, doubling the Fighting Camels six. Abby Perryman hit a two run home run for Campbell to give them a 3-1 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning. In the sixth the Bobcats struck back and scored two runs to tie the game. Deanna Cole singled to right field to drive in Caroline Spacek. Then, Katie Yun hit a sac fly to score Alex Day. Finally in the bottom of the seventh, Morgan Geno got on base on a fielder’s choice, she advanced to second on a passed ball, putting her in scoring position for Spacek. Spacek came up clutch and doubled down the left field line to drive in Geno and win the game for the Bobcats. Madi McCrady got her third victory of the season going 7.0 innings and giving up six hits, 3 earned runs, with five strikeouts.
In the final game of the weekend for Ohio, the Bobcats took on the 49’ers of Charlotte. Ohio took the lead in the top of the first, but the game was tied at one entering the fifth inning. That’s when the Bobcats pounced and scored three runs in the fifth and four runs in the sixth to get their sixth victory of the season with a 8-6 win. Natalie Alvarez led the Bobcats with three hits, Charlee Pond also had a multi hit game. Morgan Geno had two RBI’s and Geno, Pond, and Katie Yun each crossed home plate twice. Mackensie Kohl stayed unbeaten on the season with her third victory. Kohl gave up two runs in six innings and struck out seven in the win.
Ohio now sits at 6-3 on the season and will be traveling to Chattanooga to play in the Chattanooga Frost Classic starting on February 22’nd when the Bobcats face Southern Illinois for the first of five games that weekend.