Ohio played 30 innings in a 48-hour span this weekend.
Friday’s game against Miami in Mid-American Conference play was a typical Ohio performance. The Bobcats got on top early, and senior Danielle Stiene pitched well enough to win. Saturday’s doubleheader, on the other hand, was a much different story in terms of length of the games.
Either way, the Bobcats left Oxford with another conference series win.
Friday
The Bobcats separated themselves from the RedHawks early, like they do with every opponent. Morgan Geno did that, blasting a home run to left-center field.
This was just the beginning of Ohio’s offensive flex in Friday’s 10-4 win.
Offense has been a staple for the Bobcats all season. A player will get a hit, and then the offensive floodgates open.
In the next inning, Mikayla Cooper reached second on an error. An Alex Day hit drove Cooper home. Day reached second on an error.
Ohio’s biggest separation came during Michaela Dorsey’s at-bat. With two runners on and a 2-0 lead, the redshirt junior slugged a three-un home run to left field.
Dorsey’s home run wasn’t the Bobcats only home run of that size.
In the seventh inning, Ohio's four-run lead increased. With two runners on, Geno, who opened the Bobcats offense, closed it with her second home run of the day: a three-run home run.
Saturday
Game one of Saturday’s doubleheader wasn't an offensive showcase. It took 11 full innings, but Ohio defeated Miami 1-0 and won its sixth consecutive conference series.
Only four Bobcats totaled six hits, including Geno and Mackenzie Brunswick, who had two each.
With no outs in the top of the 11th, Allie Englant reached first on a fielder’s choice as Brunswick was thrown out at third. Englant then stole second during Taylor Saxton’s at-bat and set herself up for a potential scoring opportunity.
When Saxton struck out swinging, the Bobcats’ batting order shuffled back to the top, and Cooper was in the box for her third at-bat of the day. Cooper singled to deep right-center, and Brunswick scored what was the game-winning run.
Despite pitching a complete game the day prior, Stiene pitched for all 11 innings and only gave up six hits.
Game two of the Bobcats' and RedHawks' doubleheader had more offense than its predecessor but finished differently.
If 11 innings in game one weren’t enough, it took game two 12 innings as Miami defeated Ohio 5-3.
The Bobcats game-two loss gave them just their second conference loss of the season; they lost to Northern Illinois earlier in the month.
It was a rough outing for Ohio’s young pitching core in freshman Madi McCrady and sophomore Kendall Meeks. The two combined gave up 14 hits, five earned runs and two home runs.
Offensively, the Bobcats started off strong because of another Geno home run in the •second inning.
With a a 3-1 lead, it looked as if Ohio had the sweep secured, but the RedHawks were able to stay in the game and slowly began to tack on runs. A home run in the fourth and an RBI in the sixth erased Ohio’s 3-1 lead. The game was tied.
Six innings later, in the bottom of the 12th, Kat Lee’s walk-off two-run home run won the game for Miami.
On deck
Ohio (28-14, 15-2 MAC) will stay at home all week as it hosts Marshall in a Tuesday non-conference game. It will also host Buffalo in a conference series Friday and Saturday.
