Ohio concluded its fall season this past weekend with a sweep over Charleston (WV) on Saturday at Ohio Softball Field. With a walk-off win in the second game, the Bobcats finished the fall 7-1 and swept three of their four doubleheaders played.
Here are 10 takeaways from the season.
This team is full of fight
In the second game of the doubleheader against Charleston, Ohio trailed 4-3 going into their last at-bat, rallied back to score twice in a 5-4. The rally was reminiscent to the doubleheader against St. Francis (PA), when the Bobcats rallied back in both games.
The late rallies show Ohio’s ability to keep composed. The Bobcats saw 181 pitches against Charleston.
Savvy Jo is back and better
Savannah Jo Dorsey, the reigning Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year is back in Athens for her redshirt senior season and should only improve.
Dorsey dominated her final three innings this fall, striking out three and keeping control, with pitches painting corners and adjusting to every batter.
Dorsey will have high expectations this year, but work ethic hasn’t changed. She can be seen before games throwing with the catchers and talking about the movement on her pitches. After her inning is complete, she repeats this process with the catcher to see how much her stuff is moving in game.
Deanna Cole is dangerous with her legs and bat
Deanna Cole hits the ball hard and flies around the bases. This combination of speed and hard contact will put her on base a lot, and if her spot as the leadoff hitter continues from the fall to the spring, this will be beneficial to the Bobcats, giving them a constant run-scoring threat.
Natalie Alvarez and Madison Claytor are complete catchers
The catcher position has a lot of aspects that go into it, from actually catching the pitch to handling pitchers to being a contributor offensively. The Bobcat backstops Claytor and Alvarez started to show their completeness Saturday with not only picking up base hits but by wearing down a path from home plate to the circle to talk to the different pitchers to get on the same page. This will help come spring because it will allow the coaches to focus more on the other aspects of the team.
Desirae Villanueva is having control problems
The freshman pitcher has talent. She is tough to hit and struck out two over her three innings of work Saturday. That’s the upside.
The downside, though, is she walked four batters, and two came around to score. Her control is going to be the key to her success.
Coach Jodi Hermanek isn’t worried about the ability of the coaching staff to help her shed this problem.
“(I’m) totally confident we will be able to work that out,” she said Saturday. “She has what it takes for sure. She has all the tools. She’s a great pitcher, and she’s just got to learn how to stay within herself a little bit more.”
Defense at short will be an area to watch
Shortstop MacKenzie Brunswick has been playing well, but she has shown some weakness defensively, struggling with balls in hole and making plays on the run.
C is for an impact freshman
Christina Skrabak, who’s known as “C” by teammates, has been the freshman that has stood out the most through the fall, in comparison with the other three.
“She just did an awesome job,” Hermanek said. “She just had some really big at-bats for us, so I’ve been really happy seeing her and just watching her just progress from this quiet, little mouse in the first weeks we were here to this kid that is just coming up in some big situations and just letting her game be the big voice for her. That really stands out to me.”
The pitching staff is deep
Jamie Wren has thrown four solid innings between the Marshall and Charleston games, and Morgan Geno has worked in games throughout the fall. Wren and Geno will also keep their primary jobs as position players, but they will help provide depth to the pitching staff that includes Savvy, Stein and Villanueva.
This gives the Bobcats five pitchers to throw out in the spring, which is great in case of injuries and is something Hermanek finds exciting.
Cooper delivers hits
Mikayla Cooper has delivered hits all fall. Her presence in the lineup delivering hits could really be a big factor in the offense, as she has been consistently hitting in the middle of the order, which means her consistency getting hits will help keep scoring opportunities going and drive in more runs.
This team will play some entertaining games in the spring
Overall, Ohio looks as though it should compete for another conference title. The Bobcats lost in the MAC Tournament Championship Game last season.
The only thing is to wait until February.
