After getting some help from other Big Ten teams, the Ohio State softball team (32-22, 7-13 Big Ten) will travel to Evanston, Ill. as the eighth seed in the conference tournament.
"We had to sit home and wait and a lot of people will say we backed in, but we earn what we earn," coach Linda Kalafatis said. "We certainly would have liked to make it not so close, but I think the kids are excited for a new opportunity because it was uncertain going into the weekend if we would be in."
By virtue of Michigan sweeping Penn State and Purdue sweeping Indiana on the final weekend of the season, the Buckeyes got their bid into the eight-team, single-elimination tournament. However, being the eighth seed has its consequences. OSU will face top seed and host, Northwestern (34-13, 18-2).
"They're a powerhouse team. There's no doubt about it. We have to fix our mistakes from the last time we played them," senior outfielder Brittany Vanderink said. "We were in a lull the first time we played them, but now we're ready to go."
The Buckeyes last faced the Wildcats as part of a six-game slump in the middle of the year. OSU lost 7-0 and 6-0. The Bucks were held to no hits one game and just three in the next.
The Buckeyes will need to make adjustments if they want to produce against one of the conference's best pitchers, Lauren Delaney.
"She throws very hard, but what we noticed in watching her is that she throws a lot of outside pitches. We are going to have to decide whether we will have some hitters crowd the plate, or wait for that one or two times she comes inside." Kalafatis said.
OSU and Northwestern played in the Big Ten Tournament championship last year and the Buckeyes pulled off a slim victory. The Bucks also beat out Northwestern as regular-season conference champs a year ago.
"I'm really excited to play Northwestern," junior pitcher Kim Reeder said. "They're one of the top teams in the tournament and we're going to have to get past them at some point if we are going to get to the championship game, which we want to do to get to NCAA Regionals."
It might be a tall task, but the Buckeyes have had past success against the Wildcats and they hope to parlay that into a victory Thursday. If the Buckeyes advance, they will play the winner of Minnesota (28-15, 9-7) and Purdue (34-20, 9-9) Friday.
Josh Ellis can be reached at ellis.319@osu.edu.
2008 Woodie Awards
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