March 28, 2014
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Seven batters posted multi-hit efforts as the Ohio University softball team (16-13, 1-0 MAC) pounded out a season high 17 hits to soar to a 14-4 triumph over Eastern Michigan (8-18, 0-1 MAC) in the 2014 Mid-American Conference opener on Friday (March 28) at the University of Michigan's Wilpon Complex.
The Bobcats collected 17 hits in a game for the first time since 2007 and totaled 14 runs for the first time since 2009 to breeze by the Eagles in game one of the Friday doubleheader.
Senior Alexandria Basquez (Elk Grove, Calif.) cracked a double and two singles, drove in three runs and scored another while freshman Casie Hutchinson (Lebanon, Ohio) added three singles, drove in two runs and scored two more to lead the charge.
Freshman Madison Claytor (Alpharetta, Ga.) smashed a three-run home run for her fourth round tripper of the season and added an RBI single to match her career high with four RBIs.
Redshirt senior Chelsea Hortman (Cincinnati, Ohio) crushed a pinch-hit, two-run bomb - her first dinger of the season - and added an RBI single.
Sophomore Amanda Dalton (Salem, Va.) went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, as did senior Alyssa Wolfe (Junction City, Ohio).
Junior Adrienne Gebele (Annapolis, Md.) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
While the 'Cats' bats were on the attack, sophomore pitcher Savannah Jo Dorsey (Grove City, Ohio) kept the Eagles in check by striking out a career-high 13 and tossing her 10th complete game of the year.
Ohio set the tone early, plating two runs in the top of the first inning and three more in the second.
Sophomore Alexia Cortez (Beaufort, S.C.) got things rolling in the first with a one-out double to right, then advanced to third on a passed ball. Hutchinson brought her home with a base hit to right. Gebele singled one out later to put runners at first and second, and Claytor delivered by plating Hutchinson with a single to left.
The second frame saw Wolfe get hit by a pitch and Dalton follow by drawing a walk with one out. Wolfe scored one out later on a single to left by Hutchinson to make it 3-0. Basquez made it a five-run lead with a base hit up the middle to plate Dalton and Hutchinson.
Ohio's lead swelled to seven runs in the fifth when Dorsey coaxed a one-out walk and was replaced on the base path by freshman Taylor Saxton (Circleville, Ohio), setting the table for Hortman's homer.
Eastern Michigan struck back in the home half with three runs to cut the Bobcats' advantage to four, but Ohio retaliated by plating three runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to run away with the win.
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