It may have been a one-win weekend for her team, but Jodi Hermanek is at ease knowing what lies ahead.
Ohio completed its Mid-American Conference schedule with trips to Miami and Ball State, two of the league's premier teams. The Bobcats (19-30, 14-8 MAC) dropped a doubleheader with the RedHawks on Friday, but rebounded with a split against the hot-hitting Cardinals yesterday afternoon in Muncie, Ind.
The 5-4 victory in the second game with Ball State wrapped up a top-four seed in next week's tournament, and used a two-run homer from Jordan Paden in the fourth inning to provide the winning total.
In (the win vs. Ball State)
we finally got some timely hits and took care of our leadoff hitter Hermanek said. Against Miami we hit the ball well but it didn't come together for us.
We got some looks, but they have very good, experienced pitchers.
Much has transpired in the last six weeks
but the bulk of improvement has come in the batter's box.
Whereas the early
non-conference portion of the schedule was littered with one-run losses due to errors or untimely hitting mistakes
the conference slate has provided encouragement and confidence at the season's most pivotal time.
Ohio finished in second place in the MAC East Division with the 14 wins
its most since 2002. The Bobcats open MAC Tournament play as the No. 4 seed against fifth-seeded Central Michigan Wednesday morning in Akron.
It's good to know the position we're in now and where we stand, Hermanek said. In the two games we played with Central Michigan, we played some extremely good softball but they were the better team.
This time around
we'll be prepared and know what to expect.
And on Sunday, the Bobcats were paced by another scintillating performance from Melissa Bonner. The junior tossed another complete game gem, holding the Cardinal offense to just five hits and yielding one walk.
Ball State went almost five innings without a hit on Bonner. She gave up a single in the first inning, and wasn't touched up again until a troublesome final frame.
Jessie Ware rocked an RBI triple, and was followed by Lisa Rozanski's run-scoring single to bring the Cardinals to 5-4 before the game's final out.
We're now generating the run support for our pitchers
and we've had a lot of good at-bats lately
Hermanek said.
We ask our defense to play well behind our pitchers and they've done that. Our pitchers are throwing the ball well
too
