Ohio is off to its best start ever and currently holds, by far, the top record in the Mid-American Conference.
The Bobcats (12-1) pace the conference in 11 offensive statistical categories and have held the MAC East players of the week honor for two weeks in a row.
Ohio junior Lauren McClary, who had 16 strikeouts over 14.2 innings and picked up her first two wins of the season this weekend, was named one of two MAC East pitchers of the week. Junior Adrienne Gebele, who had four RBI and a team-leading 10 hits and this weekend, garnered the division’s top player spot.
‘D.I.R.T’ mentality
The team follows a saying, “D.I.R.T.” which has been around since before coach Jodi Hermanek’s time in Athens and can be seen on the back of shirts worn at practice.
“It means discipline, integrity, respect and teamwork, and for us it is our motto of doing things while no one is looking and having the ownership of why you came here in the first place.” Hermanek said.
Around the MAC
Other early MAC contenders include Buffalo (8-3) Kent State (6-4) and Akron (3-2.)
The teams are two of four that are better than .500 in the MAC East, and three teams are better than .500 in the MAC West.
Kent State junior Emma Johnson shared McClary’s pitcher of the week honor this week after going 2-1 with a 1.11 ERA over the weekend. She pitched a one-hit shutout against Kentucky — which currently sits sixth in the ESPN/USA Softball rankings — and handed the Wildcats their first loss of the season.
Kentucky was one of two ranked opponents Kent faced last weekend. Kent also dropped both of its games to fifth-ranked Michigan. The Golden Flashes first game against the Wolverines was a 7-1 loss, but they rebounded in the second game to take their opponent to extra innings, eventually losing 1-0.
