A red-hot start cooled off a little bit in Orlando for Ohio (9-5 overall), as it traveled south to compete in the Space U Classic hosted by the University of Central Florida.
Ohio finished 2-3 over the five total games it played, losing twice to the hosts and losing in six innings to Penn State, but a win over Charleston Southern and a huge upset against Notre Dame were highlights of the weekend.
Thursday
The Bobcats started the weekend with one game Thursday night against the host team UCF. Ohio’s ace pitcher and graduate student Skipp Miller went the distance in this one, allowing just 4 runs in a game that saw the offense stifled, as the final score ended 4-1.
Ohio went 1-2-3 to start the game, and UCF answered with an RBI double from Sierra Humphreys to get on the board first. Humphreys hit the Knights’ second run of the game in the third inning with another RBI double.
Ohio got a runner on third in the fourth, but it was unable to bring the run home. UCF answered with a solo homer to make it 3-0. The Bobcats got on the board in the sixth with a sac fly, but with an extra insurance run by the Knights and the Bobcats being unable to drive runs home, UCF took the first game of the weekend.
Friday
Friday seemed to start the same way for Ohio, as Notre Dame got out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning with the Ohio bats having trouble with runners in scoring position.
After Ohio went 1-2-3 in the top of the fourth, sophomore pitcher Ally Meyers shut down the Knights' offense. In the top of the fifth, a double from junior infielder Brenna Farmer scored graduate student infielder Rylee McDaniel, and a single from senior infielder Colleen Bare brought home senior outfielder Belle Hummel to cut the Fighting Irish lead to 1.
Meyers allowed another run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Ohio offense answered right back with another 2 runs.
Senior infielder Shelby Westler scored on a wild pitch, which allowed runners to advance to second and third. With the scoring opportunity, sophomore catcher Jordyn Wycuff was hit by a pitch, and a walk from Hummel drove in another run.
Some tough defense from both sides resulted in the seven innings ending tied at 4, and Bare was able to come through in the eighth, scoring freshman infielder Allie Cervola from an RBI single.
The Fighting Irish went 1-2-3 against Miller in the bottom of the eighth, as Ohio pulled off a huge upset.
The magic of Friday ran out later in the day as Ohio fell to UCF again, this time by a score of 9-1 in a shortened six innings.
The Bobcats threw three different pitchers out against UCF, as senior Keegan Moore, junior Mikie Lieving and Meyers all took the bump during the blowout.
Westler drove in Ohio’s only run with a big RBI double, as the Bobcats finished the game with just 3 total hits.
Saturday
Ohio got a break from the gauntlet of teams it had to play Thursday and Friday, as it took on Charleston Southern in the first game Saturday. Miller finished her great weekend for Ohio with a gem, throwing seven innings of 1-run balls while allowing just 3 hits and striking out 7.
The Bobcat bats got started early as well, as junior outfielder Izzie Wilson singled through the first and second base gap, bringing home Bare and Hummel.
The Buccaneers scored right back with an RBI single from Maddie Lee that scored their only run of the day.
Bare tripled in the top of the second inning, bringing home Hummel once more. From there, Miller was nearly flawless, allowing just a couple of hits before she finished the day with a 4-1 win after a sac fly from Wilson scored Bare.
A strong weekend overall ended on a sour note, as Penn State scored 9 runs in the sixth inning to put an exclamation point on a 16-1 win.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning before Farmer’s single in the third inning scored Ohio’s only run of the game. Ohio’s Meyers put up a scoreless frame in the fourth before giving up 3 runs in the fifth.
Moore took the mound for the sixth and allowed 9 runs off small-ball from Penn State, who scored those 9 runs off a combination of errors, singles and walks.
