Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

PDF Boxscore

ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio softball team (8-1) battled to finish its home tournament with a victory on Sunday morning, defeating the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers (0-4) 9-3 and earning four wins over the weekend.

“The more you win, the more of a target you have on your back and the more responsibility you have Monday through Thursday to train harder and train better and be bigger and the more we keep winning, the more we have to keep grinding,” head coach Jodi Hermanek said.

The Scarlet Knights struck early in the top of the first inning on a two-run homerun by Nicole Bowman allowing Hailey Hoklotubbe to score and giving Rutgers a 2-0 lead.

Ohio would fight back in the bottom of the first on a run by Alex Day (Hilliard, Ohio) after an error on a throw home from an infield hit by Natalie Alvarez (Long Beach, Calif.) to bring Ohio closer at 2-1. Alvarez’s hit would advance Deanna Cole (Akron, Ohio) to third and Alexa Holland (Rochester, Ind.) would run to second. Next up, Casie Hutchinson (Lebanon, Ohio) allowed Cole to score on a fly out hit tying the game up at 2-2 going into the third inning.

The second inning would go scoreless, but both teams would battle to score. In the top of the third, Rutgers would increase its lead on a single by Morgan Wells after Nicole Bowman flied one out to left field giving the Scarlet Knights a 3-2 lead.

Ohio would respond quickly in the bottom of the third. Holland would make a big play on a single to left center to allow Day to score, tying it up once again at 3-3 going into the fourth inning.

Desirae Villanueva (Surrey, British Columbia) would strikeout one to start the fourth inning and Rutgers would quickly earn two more outs to give Ohio the chance to score.

The bottom of the fourth was big for the Bobcats, starting with a single up the middle by Day to allow Taylor Saxton (Circleville, Ohio) to advance to second and Mikayla Cooper (Delaware, Ohio) to score, giving Ohio a 4-3 lead. Jamie Wren (Whittier, Calif.) then reached second on an error by the shortstop to advance Day to third and Saxton to score an unearned run making it a 5-3 game, but Ohio wasn’t done there. Geno would single to left field to earn two RBI on runs by Day and Wren to give Ohio a 7-3 lead to begin the fifth inning.

Alexis Milesky (Plain City, Ohio) would enter the game to pinch run for Casie Hutchinson (Lebanon, Ohio) after she hit a single up the middle in the bottom of the fifth. Madison Claytor (Alpharetta, Ga.) would make a big hit to double to right center to allow Milesky to score and Claytor would then advance to second making it an 8-3 game.

Claytor would advance to third on a single down the right field by MacKenzie Brunswick (Bellefontaine, Ohio) then Saxton would steal second and advance to third while Claytor would run home to score on the throw increasing Ohio’s lead to 9-3 going into the sixth inning.

The sixth inning would go scoreless.

Rutgers could not add any runs to their score in the top of the seventh, giving Ohio the 9-3 win to end the weekend.

Overall, at the plate the Bobcats had nine runs on 10 hits. Day would lead the way for Ohio going 2-for-4 along three runs and one RBI on the day. Cooper went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Geno went 1-for-4 with two RBI and Wren, Holland, Hutchinson and Claytor all had a hit.

In the circle, Villanueva got the start. Villanueva allowed three runs on five hits while striking out three in her seven innings of work.

“She [Villanueva] did really well,” Day said. “For a little bit there we weren’t able to back her up as well as we should have, but she stuck with it, pitched really hard and she backed us up.”

UP NEXT
After hosting this weekend, the Bobcats will have a week off and then will head to Knoxville, Tenn., March 2-4 to participate in the Tennessee Invitational, hosted by Tennessee. While there, Ohio will face Southern Louisiana, Tennessee, Bradley, Delaware and Jacksonville State. 

#BleedGreen