March 16, 2011
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio-The Ohio softball team exhibited perfection early and a never-say-die attitude late as the Bobcats downed Morehead State 10-0 and 13-12 in a doubleheader Wednesday at the Ohio Softball Field.
The Bobcats improved to 8-6 with the wins, while the Eagles dropped to 9-13.
Bobcat hurler Emily Wethington (6-2) pitched a perfect game in the first contest, which was shortened to five innings due to the "mercy rule". She struck out eight batters and needed just 64 pitches to complete the effort. MSU starter Ashley Imperial suffered the loss, as she allowed five earned runs on nine hits with one strikeout and no walks in one and two-thirds innings.
Offensively, right fielder Melissa Bonner went 4-for-6 on the day with two runs and three RBIs, while center fielder Jillian Van Wagnen, third baseman Sara Clark and left fielder Paige Kemezis all went 3-for-6. Kemezis finished the afternoon with a team-high five RBIs.
For Morehead, Amber Riddle and Rebecca Butler had two homers and four RBIs apiece.
While Wethington was mowing down the competition in the first game, the Ohio offense did all its damage in the first two innings, starting with Wethington's sacrifice fly to left in the first inning.
The Bobcats got the other nine in the second inning when they sent 12 batters to the plate. Clark plated the first one with a single to left and Bonner raced home on a fielder's choice for the second tally. Van Wagnen then followed with a run-scoring single to left, followed by Kemezis' two-run single to center. The big hits then came off the bats of designated player Lauren Gellerman and Bonner, who each launched two run shots to complete the scoring.
Catcher Jordan Paden also scored twice in the contest.
The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second game with runs in the first and third frames before Clark's RBI-double to center in the fourth cut the lead in half.
MSU then built what seemed to be an insurmountable 9-1 lead with three more in the fifth and four in the sixth to take a 9-1 lead. However, Ohio fired back with seven two-out runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to one. First baseman Raven King sent the first one home on an infield single and Gellerman scored the next one on an Eagle fielding error. Van Wagnen then worked a bases-loaded walk for the next run, while third baseman Alexis Joseph did the same thing one batter later. Kemezis then had a two-run single up the middle and Joseph came around to score when the throw on Bonner's grounder was bobbled by Riddle.
All of that left the score at 9-8 entering the seventh and final inning, but MSU tacked on three more in the top of that frame with a pair of home runs. Now facing a four-run deficit in their last at-bat, the Bobcats weren't done scoring as their bats helped clinch the sweep. Paden drew the home team within one when her pinch-hit, three-run blast cleared the wall in left and Kemezis then tied the contest on a double to left center. Bonner's double to right center plated Joseph and completed the improbable comeback.
MSU designated player Brooke McCartney added three runs in the game for the Eagles.
Ohio starter Caitlin Colvin (1-4) picked up the win, as she started and finished the game for the Bobcats. She tossed five innings, allowing three runs on three hits with three strikeouts and 10 walks. Imperial (5-7) suffered the defeat in the second game as well, as she gave up the last run and two hits.
The Bobcats will be back in action Friday vs. Harvard, as they play the first of a 10-game California swing.
