May 15, 2011
Final Stats
AKRON, Ohio - The Ohio softball team lost a pair of hard-fought games on Sunday to top-seeded Western Michigan in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament Finals. The Bobcats fell to the Broncos 4-3 in game one, and dropped the winner-take-all second game 7-4. With the losses, Ohio concludes the 2011 season with a record of 26-23 overall.
Senior Emily Wethington (New Palestine, Ind.) and junior Jillian Van Wagnen (Lorain, Ohio) were both named to the MAC All-Tournament Team. Wethington went 3-2 in the circle, including a shutout against Central Michigan in the quarterfinals. She totaled 14 strikeouts in 27.1 innings pitched. Van Wagnen totaled four hits and two RBIs to go along with nine putouts and an outfield assist.
In the first game, Ohio jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Van Wagnen singled to right centerfield and drove in Tessa Bailey (Acworth, Ga.). Bailey was pinch running for sophomore Lauren Gellerman (San Diego, Calif.).
Western Michigan scored the next three runs behind one in the second and two in the third. Michelle Bendewald drove a ground-rule double to left field to score Christina Pigozzi. The pair of runs in the third were powered by an RBI double from Courtney Rousseau and a run-scoring single by Kayla Houston.
The Bobcats came back to tie the score at 3-3 in the fourth with two runs. The pair of runs scored on a single by Alexis Joseph (Alvin, Texas) that plated Alexandria Basquez (Elk Grove, Calif.) and Erin Lashley (Pickerington, Ohio).
Gracie Barstad, the 2011 MAC Player of the Year, provided the game-winning run in game one with a solo shot over the centerfield fence in the bottom of the fifth.
Ohio put a runner in scoring position in the top of the sixth, but Raven King (Alpine, Utah) got no further than second base.
In the second game, the Broncos scored five runs in the first and never looked back. The Broncos sent nine batters to the plate in the top of the first and started with a leadoff home run by Meredith Whitney.
Ohio got on the board in the bottom of the second when Brooke Morgart (Wayne, Ohio) hit a two-RBI triple to right centerfield. She drove in Basquez and Bailey on the play. The triple cut the deficit to three runs, 5-2.
The Bobcats got as close as two runs, 6-4 in the sixth inning. Senior Melissa Bonner (Kings Mills, Ohio) drove a one-out double to left centerfield. She came around to score on a Gellerman single to right center two batters later. However, Western Michigan (24-28) added a run in the seventh to extend its lead back to three runs, 7-4.
Western Michigan starter Meredith Whitney won all three games the team played on the day and improved to 17-13. She was named MAC Tournament MVP. Wethington suffered both losses on the day for Ohio. Her record to end the season was 21-12.
Sunday marked the close of the Ohio careers for five players - Bonner, Sara Clark (Ontario, Calif.), Paige Kemezis (Hackensack, N.J.), Jordan Paden (Walla Walla, Wash.) and Wethington. It also closed the time for Kelly Krueger as a volunteer assistant coach. This group twice advanced to the MAC Tournament Championship game and won the 2011 MAC East Divisional Title.
