April showers are known to bring May flowers after a rain-filled month. For Ohio, all it did was bring a loss and cancellations.
Ohio (15-18, 4-5 Mid-American Conference) lost their second game in a row yesterday 8-3, hours after losing the first game 6-3 in a double header with Western Michigan (14-24, 8-4 MAC). The first game was originally to be played Saturday, but weather delayed the game until the next day.
“It certainly was a tough day as far as the conditions and the wind and the cold,” said coach Jodi Hermanek. “But both teams had to play in it and both teams had to come to the field for two games.”
The Bobcats took the lead early as Paige Kemezis homered to right field, bringing the score to 1-0. But the Broncos were quick to respond with two runs of their own through a single and a Jordan Paden throwing error.
Paden redeemed herself in the third, knocking a two-run homerun to centerfield.
The homer put Ohio back on top 3-2.
“We had opportunities,” Hermanek said. “Their pitching staff just kept up off balance, and we just needed to realize the strike zone to its full capacity – we just had a hard time adjusting and coming up with runs.”
The Broncos took the lead once again, scoring again in the fourth inning. They crossed the plate five more times in the fifth, including a homer to centerfield by Broncos’ designated player Meredith Whitney.
“Western Michigan is also a team that puts the bat on the ball more often times than not,” Hermanek said. “You are going to have to put the pressure on the defense, so where we had the opportunities and decisions to get some outs, we struggled there.”
Hermanek added that the team will continue to focus on the things they can control in their upcoming practices — execution and communication.
“We had three errors in the second game, which probably hurt against the team that is continuously going to put the bat to the ball,” she said. “It’s just taking control of the things that we can control.”
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