After battling poor weather conditions and an absence of on-field practice entering the weekend, Ohio kicked off its season with a sweep in the Carolina Classic.
Ohio took down Presbyterian, Northern Carolina-Greensboro, South Carolina and Iowa this weekend, outscoring the competition 33-19.
“I’m most proud of the girls for coming out and striking in the way we did. We would come out in pressure situations and didn’t allow things to affect us. We really stayed on a steady stride.” head coach Jodi Hermanek said.
Sophomore pitcher Savannah Jo Dorsey dominated the weekend by pitching in all four games and finishing the series with 28 strikeouts and just four earned runs during 19 innings pitched. The Bobcats’ pitching staff combined for 34 strikeouts during the weekend.
“For our pitching staff it was really great to see them perform that well” Hermanek said. “A great performance like this early in the season is sure to build confidence among the team in their pitchers to throw strikes and pitch well in high stress situations.”
Not only were the Bobcats stellar on the mound, their offense showed no signs of rust from the off-season workouts.
Ohio recorded 10 hits against Presbyterian, nine against UNCG and 12 against Iowa. The team’s lowest amount of hits was five and came against South Carolina, which earned votes in the preseason Top 25 poll.
“We put a lot of faith in our offense this weekend. Every time we had a chance to come back on offense we did,” Hermanek said.
Eight Bobcats drove in at least three runs this weekend, in addition to the five home runs Ohio combined to hit. Leading the way was freshman catcher/infielder Madison Claytor, who hit a double, single, home run and recorded a team-high five RBIs.
Despite the team’s discipline and focus, Hermanek said the Bobcats still have room for improvement defensively.
“There were definitely some moments in our defense that gave the opportunity to other team. We’re gonna clean up outside of defense, throw more strikes and getting outs when we were in control of that” Hermanek said.
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This article appeared in print under the headline "’Cats go undefeated"
