Ohio (23-23, 17-10 Mid-American Conference) concluded its regular season with a three-game weekend series against Western Michigan (22-32, 12-16 MAC) at home. Ohio went 1-2 in the series, dropping its first two games 2-0 and 10-5 in a doubleheader on Saturday before bouncing back on Sunday.
Sunday ended in an exciting fashion. Brooke Rice threw down to first and picked off the runner to secure a 6-5 win. Western Michigan mounted a comeback effort but couldn’t get it done.
Ohio started off hot with back-to-back doubles from Yasmine Logan and Megan McMenemy, putting itself up 1-0 in the first inning. Then, Ohio cashed in another run on a single and sacrifice fly, which opened the door for Caroline Spacek, who crushed a two-run home run to left to put Ohio up 4-0 in the third.
The Broncos gained one run back on a solo home run, but Rice hit a home run for the Bobcats to nullify the Broncos’ run and extend the lead to 5-1 entering the fifth inning.
Western Michigan roared back with four runs in the top of the fifth. However, Ohio kept the lead on a sacrifice fly to right field by Logan.
On Saturday, the Bobcats didn’t fare as well, though. They struggled to get the offense going in the first game, and were held scoreless while registering just three hits, two of which came from McMenemy.
Despite the offense, Mackensie Kohl did her job in the circle. She only allowed two runs on eight hits and struck out five over seven innings.
Game two was also a tough loss, the Bobcats fell 10-5. They grabbed an early 1-0 lead, but the Broncos’ offense exploded for five runs in the third inning alone.
Ohio battled back on a three-run home run from Annalia Paoli to cut the deficit to one. However, Western Michigan rallied together again in the sixth to tack on four more runs. Lauren Yuhas added a solo home run but Ohio couldn’t overcome the deficit as Western Michigan cashed in another run on an RBI single in the seventh.
