It’s been a tough start to spring quarter for the Bobcats since they returned from California. After a rainout of their Wednesday games, Ohio fell in a double header today.
The Bobcats lost to Ball State (21-13, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) 7-6 in eight innings for their first game and then fell once again 12-3 in five innings.
“We had a great offensive day in both games; we had some good at bats and some solid hits,” said coach Jodi Hermanek. “They played some solid defense, but when it comes to just handling the pressure and executing, we messed that up today.”
Ohio (11-15, 0-2 MAC) and Ball State got off to a slow start in the first game of the double header. The first three batters of each lineup fell right in a row, leaving the score at zero after the first inning.
Taylor Rager lead ball State in the second inning, getting on base with a walk on five pitches. Left-fielder Amanda Carpenter flied out to center next, while Cardinal’s third-baseman followed suit with a walk on six pitches. The second inning fell flat for both teams as they both remained scoreless.
The Cardinals were able to score two runs in the fourth inning, but short stop Alexis Joseph answered their call with a leadoff homerun for the Bobcats, bringing the score to 2-1.
“The first game we had a lot of opportunities that we just missed on our execution,” Hermanek said.
Ohio tied the game in the fifth inning when Bobcat centerfielder Jillian Van Wagnen singled to shortstop, stole second scored on Joseph’s single to second base.
The score continued to yo-yo as both teams scores in the sixth inning, bringing the score to 3-3, counting Bonner’s first homerun of the day.
A scoreless seventh inning led the Bobcats to decide their fate in the eighth. The Cardinals scores four runs and the Bobcats trailed with only three runs by the time the inning was over.
The eighth inning included Bonner’s second homerun for the day.
“If has executed like we should’ve, especially in the seventh inning when one of our girls got hit by a pitch and had executed our short game plan, then we would’ve put a lot of pressure on them,” Hermanek said. “We wouldn’t get ourselves into situations in the eighth that we were in.”
Bobcat pitcher Emily Wethington pitched all eight innings of the first game.
The second game went a little faster for the Bobcats as they fell to the Cardinals in only five innings.
Ball State scored right off the bat. In the first inning alone, leadoff batter Alyssa Collins led with a single followed by another single by center fielder Lisa Rozanski. Shortstop Alicia Barkley also followed suit and singled. But the grand finale came when Taylor Rager came up and hit a home run, clearing the bases.
Caitlin Colvin was relieved after not only playing the entire first inning by Emily Wething. Colvin gave up two runs in her short stint on the mound.
“Emily had to step in,” Hermanek said. “She’s been in this role the entire season, you know where she has had to come in in extra innings. So she can live up to that expectation, and it’s a hard hitting offensive club that we just faced … Emily did the best that she could do today.”
The Bobcats were not able to pull back into the game as the Cardinals scores 10 runs in the first three innings. Wethington eventually hit a homerun, and two runs were garnered by the Bobcats in the third inning.
The final score was 12-3. The Bobcat continue their MAC play against Miami tomorrow afternoon and finish the games on Sunday.
“If you have kind of a one-pitch crew, then double headers aren’t really your forte,” Hermanek said. “But, I think that is kind of what we got caught in today for some reason, it just wasn’t there for us on the mound for our second and third pitcher.”
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