After playing just one of their first 32 games at home, the Bobcats are finally starting to get settled at Ohio Softball Field.
Ohio will host Toledo for a doubleheader Friday before Bowling Green comes to Athens for games Saturday and Sunday. This weekend will be the second consecutive of the four Mid-American Conference games the Bobcats will host.
But this weekend’s home stint is perhaps the most crucial weekend for Ohio yet, as it will face Toledo, which has the most MAC wins, and Bowling Green, which is just behind the Bobcats in standings.
Throughout the season, coach Jodi Hermanek has continued to stress the importance of staying motivated and not worrying about the past, as the team enters the middle stretch of conference play, which she calls the “second phase of the season.”
Recently, momentum has been the big thing either propelling or holding the team back.
Ohio has been in a groove where it either pulls out a lot of runs or doesn’t get any at all.
Despite the Bobcats being shut out 6-0 at Ohio State in the first game of a doubleheader on Wednesday, they recovered and forced the next game to extra innings, but ultimately lost 10-9. In that extra inning loss, Ohio cranked out four home runs, a team best since April 13, 2013.
Not including the 10-9 loss, Ohio had been outscored 21-1 during its previous four losses.
But this four-game weekend is welcoming to Hermanek, who said last weekend she is comfortable in a position to rotate her main pitchers: sophomore Savannah Jo Dorsey, junior Lauren McClary and freshman Leanna Bachman, a left-hander who suffered a loss in the first game against Ohio State on Wednesday.
Hermanek noted Bachman was getting more comfortable in the circle, and the rest of the Bobcats were starting to get use to Bachman.
Regardless of who takes the circle, Ohio knows it has its work cut out and will have an opportunity to let the Falcons fall a couple games behind in the MAC East standings.
“From my three years now, this is the best team I’ve been on,” junior outfielder Timmie Rappe said earlier in the season. “I think we’ve played really well and meshed together.”
gh181212@ohiou.edu
@charliehatch_
UP NEXT:
Who: Toledo (15-22, 3-3 MAC) at Ohio (19-17, 4-2 MAC)
When: 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Friday
Where: Ohio Softball Field
