Plagued by a lack of hitting and defense, the Ohio softball team dropped two out of three games to Marshall over the weekend.
Ohio (16-30, 3-11 Mid-American Conference) won the first game 11-9 in nine innings, dropped the second game 2-1 and fell on Sunday by a count of 8-6.
In the first game, the Bobcats looked like they were going to fall again because of a lack of offense and defense. Going into the seventh inning, the Bobcats had tallied four errors and trailed 6-2. However, Robin Miller had something to say about that.
Ohio loaded the bases on the strength of two singles and a walk as Miller stepped to the plate with two outs and blasted a grand slam to right field. The homerun was Miller's second of the game and sent the contest into extra innings.
The game remained a 6-6 deadlock going into the ninth inning when Ohio blew the game open by scoring five runs. Marshall (26-14, 11-3 MAC) helped Ohio out in the inning though, as the Bobcats needed only two hits to score the five runs. Marshall committed two errors, hit two batters and walked another in the inning.
The Herd attempted a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, scoring three runs off pitcher Natalie Armstrong, but coach Roanna Brazier called on Michelle Sauter to come in and record the last out of the inning to pick up the save, preserving the comeback victory.
In the second game, Ohio managed only two hits, and were retired in order in five of the seven innings. Shannon Weidner had Ohio's only RBI in the entire game.
Sauter (4-9) was the tough-luck loser for Ohio, as she pitched a complete game, giving up seven hits. Although they had no errors in the second game, a bright spot for the Bobcats, that was not be the case in the third game.
Ohio committed six errors in the 8-6 loss, resulting in six unearned runs. Holding a 6-3 lead going to the bottom of the fourth inning, the Bobcats allowed Marshall to score two runs in the fourth and three more in the sixth inning, completing the Herd's comeback.
Thanks in part to Ohio's 10 errors during the weekend, which lead to 11 unearned runs, Marshall's victories kept them in first place in the MAC East Division, ahead of Miami.
The Bobcats will travel to play a non-conference doubleheader with Virginia Tech on Wednesday. The first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
-Kevin Wiseman
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Kevin Wiseman
