Ohio Softball Continues Spring Break Trip with Seven More Games in Florida

3/9/2020 12:00:00 AM | Softball

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ATHENS, OH – The Ohio softball team returns to action on Tuesday, March 10 in Clearwater, Fla. with games against Providence and Cleveland State. After the conclusion of the games on March 10, the Bobcats will travel to Tampa, Fla. for the USF Tournament hosted by South Florida on March 13-15. While there, the Bobcats will play Iowa, South Florida, and Southeast Missouri State.

Scouting Providence
Providence currently sits on a 6-9 record to start the 2020 season.

The Friars ended the 2019 season with a 30-22 record for a .577 winning percentage. Providence ended their season with a 4-0 loss to DePaul in the Big East Tournament. They were 11-9 in conference play.

The Friars are lead at the plate by sophomore infielder Jessica Tomaso with a .366 batting average, 14 RBIs, and a OBP of .480 in the first 15 games. Coming into the game against the Bobcats, senior outfielder Mackensie Compton is slugging .826 and leads the team with five home runs. Across the board, the Friars are hitting .214.

In the circle, sophomore pitcher Daniela Alvarez has started seven games for the Friars, pitching five complete games on the way to a 2-5 record and a 3.85 ERA. As a team, the Friars have a 4.26 ERA.

Scouting Cleveland State
Cleveland State enters the game against the Bobcats with a 6-9 record to begin the 2020 season.

The Vikings finished 2019 with a 15-34 record including an 8-16 record in conference play. They ended the season with an 8-0 loss to Northern Kentucky.

Junior outfielder Sydney Bajusz leads the way for the Vikings with 12 RBI, three home runs, and slugging .522 in 15 games this season. Senior pitcher/utility player Kelly Hysong leads the team with 15 hits. Hysong also holds a 4-4 record including four complete games and 38 strikeouts for a 2.32 ERA. As a team, Cleveland State's pitching staff has a 3.40 ERA.

Scouting Iowa
Iowa has started the 2020 season a strong note, boasting a 17-5. Ohio fell to Iowa last weekend, 1-0, at THE Spring Games.

Last season the Hawkeyes sported a 19-32 record for .373 winning percentage, including a -18 record in conference play. Iowa saw their season come to an end at the hands of #5 Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament.

Freshman infielder Nia Carter has the hot bat for the Hawkeyes, hitting .509 in 21 games. Including Carter, six Hawkeyes currently sport batting averages over .300. Freshman infielder Kalena Burns leads the way with 20 RBI and 50 total bases.

Senior RHP Allison Doocy and junior LHP Lauren Shaw are splitting the starting duties for the Hawkeyes. Doocy holds a 7-2 record with a 1.54 ERA and Shaw has a 9-2 record and a 2.72 ERA.

Scouting Southeast Missouri
SEMO is off to a 12-5 start to the 2020 season.

The 2019 season saw the Redhawks post a 46-18 record and a .719 winning percentage. They were 17-5 in conference play and held a 10-3 record at home. They won the OVC tournament, posting victories over #5 Eastern Kentucky and #2 Jacksonville State. The Redhawks saw their season end in the NCAA Regional with losses to #7 Louisiana and Ole Miss.

The Redhawks are lead by OVC Player of the Year and Third-Team NFCA All-American senior outfielder, Rachel Anderson, who picked up where she left off in the 2019 season, hitting .480 in the first 17 games. Anderson leads the team with 24 hits and 19 runs. Senior infielder Ashley Ellis also wields a hot bat for the Redhawks, knocking eight home runs and a .878 slugging percentage.

Rachel Rook holds a 4-2 record for the Redhawks, pitching five complete games alongside a 0.70 ERA and 51 strikeouts. As a pitching staff, the Redhawks have a 2.48 ERA.

Scouting South Florida
South Florida is off to a 15-9 start in 2020.

The Bulls are coming off a 41-19 season and a .683 winning percentage. USF went 17-4 in conference play. The Bulls made an appearance in the NCAA Regional, defeating #21 South Carolina in their first game, before dropping back to back decisions to #4 Florida State and #21 South Carolina.

Senior outfielder AnaMarie Bruni leads the way with a .443 average with 35 hits and 12 runs. Senior infielder Brooke Hartman leads the team with 12 RBI.

Georgina Corrick boasts a 1.39 ERA and an 11-3 record in 2020. Corrick has pitched nine complete games so far and has tossed 120 strikeouts. As a staff, the Bulls have a 2.79 ERA.

Last Weekend at The Spring Games
Ohio is coming off a 2-2 split at THE Spring Games this past weekend. Ohio defeated St. Bonaventure thanks to sophomore Caitlin Fogue's two grand slams. The Bobcats then fell to Iowa and South Dakota State, before defeating Merrimack, 6-0, in the final game of the weekend.

SCOUTING OHIO
The Bobcats are 10-114 overall after competing in THE Spring Games.

Offensively, the Bobcats are hitting .290 as a team, scoring a total of 109 runs with 192 hits, 37 doubles, and 12 home runs. They've also registered 99 RBI and have a team slugging percentage of .424. The Bobcats also have a .358 on base percentage, while drawing 66 walks.

Leading the way in hitting is junior Allie Englant (Long Beach, Calif.) who is hitting .423 with 33 hits, two doubles, 21 runs scored and three RBIs. Junior Katie Yun (North Canton, Ohio) follows, hitting .376 with 32 hits, seven doubles, five home runs, 18 runs scored and 23 RBI. She also has a .635 slugging percentage. Sophomore Caroline Spacek (Beaumont, Texas) is batting .303 with 32 hits, seven doubles and 11 RBI.

2019 BOBCAT REWIND
Ohio finished the 2019 season 34-21, 12-8 in-conference, just shy of winning back-to-back Mid-American Conference titles after falling to Toledo (29-26) in the final round. Thanks to a grand slam in the seventh inning that increased the lead to 7-2, Ohio was able to defeat the top-seeded Miami (35-14), giving the Bobcats another shot at claiming the regular season crown. Despite a 5-0 lead in the first game against Toledo, Ohio was unable to recover from three errors late in the first game and five errors in game two.

Overall, the team finished with a collective on-base percentage of .365, a .462 slugging percentage and a .295 batting average. The Bobcats scored 299 runs, had 269 RBIs, hit 64 doubles and 68 home runs, stole 52 bases and had 4 shutouts.

RETURNERS
This season, the returners for Ohio consist of five sophomores, five juniors, and one senior. Last season, senior outfielder Alexa Holland (Rochester, Ind.) had a fielding percentage of .958, with 37 outputs and nine assists. Holland finished the 2019 season with the highest batting average of her career, .266. With 29 hits in 109 at-bats, she scored 18 runs, hit one triple and registered six RBI. Last Season, Holland was named to the Academic All-MAC team for the second time.

Junior Katie Yun (North Canton, Ohio) also returns for the Bobcats. Last season, Yun was batting a team-high of .394 with a .711 slugging percentage, 14 home runs and 18 doubles. Registering 78 hits, Yun set the single-season hits record. Yun earned First Team All-MAC, 2019 Google Cloud Academic All-District Team, and All-Mideast Region First Team.

In the circle, junior Madi McCrady (Brimfield, Ohio) is back in the Green and White after posting a 23-13 record and a 3.20 ERA in 229.1 innings pitched while striking out 207. McCrady also earned a spot on the Academic All-MAC squad.

Other returners include sophomores Caroline Spacek, Justice Ruggles and Mackensie Kohl as well as juniors Allie Englant and Brooke Rice.

NEW TO THE SQUAD
Ohio is welcoming 10 newcomers to the team, seven freshmen and three transfers.

Incoming freshmen for this season include Alexis Dawe, Kaci Branch, Sydney Larson, Molly Troutman, Ryan Shaughnessy, Sophia Bernard and Holly Brehm.

The Bobcats also added three transfers to the roster for the 2020 season, including junior Ava Heidorn (Marysville, Ohio) who comes to Ohio after spending two seasons at UL-Monroe. Ohio also sees redshirt sophomore pitcher Baylie Thornhill (Baton Rouge, La.) come to Ohio from LSU, and sophomore infielder Caitlin Fogue (Columbia, Mo.) puts on the Green and White after one season at Missouri.

PRESEASON POLL
Ohio softball team has been selected fourth in the 2020 MAC Softball Preseason Poll, the league announced today (Feb. 5). The poll was voted on by the head coaches of the 11 MAC institutions.

The Bobcats earned 86 votes but did not receive a first-place vote. Finishing ahead of Ohio is Miami who was selected as this year's favorite with 113 votes and four first-place votes, followed by Kent State with 112 votes and four first-place votes. Ball State finished with 90 votes and two first-place votes.

Selected behind Ohio is Toledo (68) with one first place vote, Central Michigan (66), Northern Illinois (65), Western Michigan (48), Bowling Green (32), Akron (25) and Buffalo (21).

Miami and Kent State both were selected to take home the 2020 MAC Tournament crown, earning five votes each. Ball State also received one vote to win the tournament.

COMING UP
Up next, the Bobcats head to Kalamazoo Mich. to begin MAC play on Saturday, March 21 for a doubleheader set to start at 1 p.m.

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