Emily Wethington has proven she's a force in the circle for Ohio with a 9-6 record, but she makes plays all over the field.
In Sunday's game against Akron ' which the Bobcats won 5-3 ' Wethington hit her fourth home run of the season. The freshman leads the team in home runs; five of her teammates have one home run each. She is now halfway to the all-time single-season record of eight home runs set by Erin Chapman in 2004.
When she isn't pitching for Ohio, Wethington also plays first base, where she has 111 putouts on the season ' third on the team behind catcher Jordan Paden and fellow first baseman Deanna Hartsough.
Doing what comes naturallyHartsough is one of the six Bobcats with a home run this season ' she hit her first in Sunday's game. Hartsough said that getting comfortable and learning to swing the bat naturally is something the team has been working on.
Before a few games
we would be thinking too much. We wouldn't just let our stuff do what we know we can do Hartsough said. If you were a power hitter then yeah
you focus on power
but if you're a contact hitter
the power comes when it comes.
Hartsough was not expecting to hit one over the fence, and said the elements just added up.
I don't consider myself a power hitter
she said. If I do hit a home run like today
it's just because I got the right pitch
and I just did what I normally do
and I just happened to hit it fair this time instead of foul.
Hartsough has a 1.00 fielding percentage in Mid-American Conference play this season in her eight starts and 10 game appearances.
'Score first'At the bottom of the first inning at every home game, if the visiting team has not scored, the Bobcats put their hands together and yell score first
a strategy that seems to work.
Ohio scored first in both games of the doubleheader against Akron and ended up winning both games. In game one, Hartsough drove in Shalene Petrich for a run in the first inning, and in game two Wethington's homerun in the fourth inning put the first two runs on the board.
Overall for the season, the team is 12-4 after scoring first and 6-11 when scored on first. When leading after the first inning, the team is 9-1.
In total, the team has scored 26 runs in the first innings to its opponents' combined 10 runs. The Bobcats are beating opponents with a total 121 runs on the season to 102.
