Sports
Ohio Softball upsets No. 25 Marshall 4-2 in midweek collision
By: Lindsey Crawford
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Coming off of a weekend series win against Bowling Green, Ohio Softball (29-15) was back at home to take on non-conference rival, the Marshall Thundering Herd (32-11). Since the two began playing, Marshall leads the matchup in wins, 14-5. However, tonight the Bobcats would take down the DI Softball poll’s No. 25 team in a thrilling 4-2 victory.
On the mound, Skipp Miller would be just the person for the job pitching all seven innings while maintaining an impressive 2.00 ERA. Her skills would prove necessary for Ohio’s success as she would put the Thundering Herd to rest with 86 strike outs.
Both teams would struggle offensively early on, but Ohio would find their groove in the bottom of the third tallying their first and only runs of the game. After being walked, Colleen Bare would find herself back at home plate courtesy of a Shelby Westler single.
At the next at bat, an Izzy Wilson homer to left field would send home herself, Westler, and Brenna Farmer. From there, Marshall would change pitchers for the third time in the game, trading Paige Maynard for Jules King. The switch proved successful, as King would strike out three out of four of the next batters to close out the inning.
Little movement would happen from both sides until the top of the sixth as back-to-back Marshall homers from Sydni Burko and Ava Blake would put the Thundering Herd back within striking distance.
In the top of the seventh with Ohio leading 4-2, Marshall would find themselves in the position to potentially take the lead. With two outs and runners on first and third, Burko would fly out to left field, and an impressive catch from Belle Hummel would send Marshall back to Huntington with the loss.
Head Coach Jenna Hall spoke on her team’s success moving forward.
“They play really good softball, so for us to come out and get this really strong win, I think the competition is going to prepare us for this stretch of MAC that we have ahead of us, but the win against Marshall is huge.”
Ohio will travel to Kent to take on the Golden Flashes for their weekend series, with their first game starting on Friday at 1 p.m.