The Bobcats have two games remaining to solidify their seeding in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
They currently occupy the conference's fifth seed, sitting just percentage points ahead of Akron, this weekend's opponent in a two-game set.
Ohio turned in one of its worst efforts of the season earlier this week against Marshall. The Bobcats were outscored 15-1 in the doubleheader sweep.
Marshall belted five home runs on the day.
Coach Jodi Hermanek sees the season's final weekend as an opportunity for her pitching staff to regroup before the tournament begins.
We're going to work our pitching staff as we would in a tournament situation
Hermanek said. Each pitcher is going to be a part of the games and it's important because we need to make sure we're keeping hitters off-balance.
Hermanek maintained that the team's focus is on the Zips, a speedy team that has stolen a conference-best 123 bases this season.
Senior outfielder Lisa McLean's 43 stolen bases outnumber the Bobcats' season total of 36.
Our focus has to be Akron and getting two wins in the final weekend of the regular season Hermanek said. If we look past them
the level of our game is going to drop.
The Zips are the conference's second-best hitting squad, trailing only the Bobcats.
But it will be Ohio's top-ranked offense that will deal with Akron's league-best pitching staff, which boasts a 2.47 earned run average and 36 complete-game efforts.
Hermanek's aggressive approach to hitting has benefited the team all season, and the Bobcats (21-22, 11-9 MAC) have quickly become the MAC's most efficient hitting team.
The Bobcat coach wants to make sure her team is at its best when it heads to the MAC Tournament in Akron - the site of a disappointing championship-game loss a year ago.
It's a constant progression
Hermanek said of the regular season. One of the biggest things for us is to make sure that anyone we play before the tournament is a learning curve.
We need to be constantly elevating our game so that when we do get to the tournament, we can stay in the winner's bracket.
,",2,Sports,Rob Mixer,28151b.jpg,",",",",",If the regular season ended today
the Bobcats would be the fifth seed in next week's Mid-American Conference softball tournament
which begins Thursday in Akron.
Kent State (East Division) and Ball State (West Division) have all but locked up the top seeds as division champions. The remaining five spots are murky
and will be determined after this weekend's final games.
Ohio will watch Miami
Akron (two remaining games) and Northern Illinois (four remaining games) closely as they are in a tight race for higher seeds.
Here are some potential fates for Ohio:
1. If Ohio sweeps Akron and Miami is swept
the Bobcats will secure the fourth seed.
2. If Ohio splits with Akron
Northern Illinois controls the Bobcats' destiny. In any combination here
