The Ohio State Softball team huddles up before the Ohio State-Maryland game March 26. Ohio State won 5-0. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
The beat continued on as the Buckeyes’ bats powered their way to a three-game sweep over Easter weekend, extending their winning streak to five games.
Ohio State (12-7) edged Penn State (1-18) in a 2-1 contest in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader behind 5 2/3 no-hit innings from senior right-hander Payton Buresch.
Sophomore catcher Sam Hackenbracht clubbed a pair of home runs in Game 2, driving in six runs during the Buckeyes’ 9-3 victory.
Hackenbracht brought her hot bat with her into Sunday, clubbing a two-run home run as seven different Buckeyes drove in a run to shut out the Nittany Lions 9-0 in five innings Sunday.
The series finale, which was scheduled for Monday at 4 p.m., was canceled out of an abundance of caution surrounding the health and safety of the student-athletes, coaches and staff, and will not be rescheduled.
Game 1
Buresch began the weekend in the circle and was unhittable for the first 5 2/3 innings of work. She picked up a pair of strikeouts through the first two innings, then retired 11 straight Nittany Lions before sophomore right fielder Maggie Finnegan reached on an infield single.
Graduate shortstop Carley Gaskill, who’s seen increased time in the six-hole as junior Ashley Prange has moved over to third base, led off the top of the third with a double. Sophomore second baseman Mariah Rodriguez laid down a sacrifice bunt, and sophomore left fielder Tegan Cortelletti drove in Gaskill on an RBI groundout to third base to help the Buckeyes take a 1-0 lead.
Gaskill came through with a solo home run with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, an important insurance run as Penn State put a run on the board with a solo shot of its own courtesy of freshman second baseman Melody Coombs.
Buresch settled after the home run and forced three consecutive groundouts to seal the 2-1 win. The Downers Grove, Illinois, native allowed just two hits and issued one free pass in her latest stellar outing in the circle.
Game 2
The Buckeyes brought their hit parade with them on the road and banged 12 hits in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, keyed by an impressive 4-for-4 performance by Hackenbracht, who made her season’s first start in right field.
Junior center fielder Meggie Otte drove her first longball of the season down the right field line with one out in the top of the first, jumping ahead of Penn State junior right-hander Kylee Lingenfelter 1-0.
One inning later, Hackenbracht swatted her season’s first home run to deep center field. She wasn’t done though, pounding her second homer in as many at-bats in the third inning, scoring Prange, who knocked an RBI double earlier in the frame.
Hackenbracht mashed two run-producing singles in her final two plate appearances, a two-run flare to the wall in center field in the fifth inning and a one-run single up the middle in the seventh. In total, she drove in six runs in the contest to power Ohio State to a 9-3 win.
In the circle, freshman right-handed pitcher Allison Smith impressed once again. She struck out seven batters as she went the distance for the sixth time this season, walking two while scattering eight hits.
Cortelletti also went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base, and junior designated hitter Kaitlyn Coffman added two hits and drove in a run herself.
Penn State saw multi-hit games from junior left fielder Melina Livingston, who went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and two runs scored, and sophomore shortstop Kaitlyn Morrison, who contributed an RBI single and a double with two outs in the sixth.
Game 3
The home runs continued into Easter Sunday as Hackenbracht and senior first baseman Niki Carver each went deep, knocking in a pair of runs.
Carver and Prange recorded back-to-back RBI hits with one out in the first, the former of which was an opposite-field triple, as Ohio State jumped ahead for three runs early.
In her second at-bat of the game, Carver took to the opposite field again for her season’s fourth home run to leadoff the top of the third inning. Otte, Gaskill and Rodriguez each drove in a run on base hits as the Buckeyes took a commanding 7-0 lead into the bottom of the third.
Buresch was back in the circle and just as dominant as she was the day before, forcing seven outs in a row after allowing a one-out single to Coombs in the first inning.
Hackenbracht clobbered a two-run home run on a favorable 2-1 count in the top of the fourth inning to put the lead at nine.
Freshman right-hander Emily Ruck relieved Buresch in the circle after the latter worked a scoreless fourth inning. Ruck issued a walk to the first batter she faced in sophomore pinch-hitter Kathryn Rex, then buckled down to work a full-count fly out and back-to-back swinging strikeouts to seal the shutout win in five innings.
Carver, Prange and sophomore catcher Taylor Pack each had multi-hit games. Freshman pinch-runner Lindsey Potter joined Cortelletti, Otte and Prange in swiping a base during the weekend.
Ohio State will host Michigan next weekend to rekindle its long-standing rivalry beginning at 4 p.m. Friday and featuring a doubleheader Saturday.
