Final Stats

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RALEIGH, N.C. - The Ohio softball team (16-7) defeated IUPUI (9-16) 2-1 in eight innings to go 5-0 at the NC State Doubletree RDU Invitational and win the tournament crown.

The game started as a defensive struggle. Both Savannah Jo Dorsey (Grove City, Ohio) and Kaitlynn Moody kept bats quiet and defenses refused to budge, as each team mustered just one hit through three innings, and two each through seven.

When the game reached the eighth inning, the Jaguars finally tallied a run to go ahead 1-0. With Ali Mosier planted on second, Kristin London batted a ball to Mikayla Cooper (Delaware, Ohio), who overthrew the attempt at first, allowing Mosier to come in and score.

In the bottom of the frame, Natalie Alvarez (Long Beach, Calif.) began the frame at second for the Bobcats. After Sloan Walker (Cypress, Texas) hit a sac bunt to move Alvarez to third, Amanda Dalton (Salem, Va.) raced down the first base line to beat out a ball at the catcher's feet and put runners on the corners. The next batter, Michaela Dorsey (Grove City, Ohio), lined a ball into right field, allowing Alvarez to tag up and race home, tying the game at 1-1.

"Before I got up to bat, my sister [Savannah] told me that Dalton said that if she had to pick someone to come up to bat in that kind of situation, she would pick me," Dorsey stated, "That gave me so much confidence, so I just walked up there and said 'I can do this,' and [head coach Jodi Hermanek] told me to go opposite field, so I got up there and said 'I'm taking this oppo,' and then I did it."

Following Dorsey's game-tying sac fly, Taylor Saxton (Circleville, Ohio) won the game by sending a laser into left-center field, which brought Dalton in and gave Ohio its second walk-off victory in as many games.

"I felt like we were generating better at-bats as the game went on, and we were feeding off of our second and third time through," Hermanek said, "Watching a kid like Michaela Dorsey come up with a clutch line drive shot in her at-bat and getting better than her first one, I was just really proud of that kind of effort."

From the circle, Savannah Jo Dorsey allowed just one run (unearned) on three hits and a walk while striking out 10 Jaguar batters.

Offensively, Ohio had four hits and three walks. Dalton led with two, while Saxton and Alex Day (Hilliard, Ohio) had one apiece.

UP NEXT
Ohio will travel to Huntington, W. Va. on Tuesday, March 22 to take on Marshall in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.

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