Despite having to endure poor weather conditions all weekend, the Bobcat softball team returned to its early-season offensive ways at the Cavalier Invitational.
Ohio (6-6) split the four games it played, losing two to Virginia before claiming a pair of victories against Colgate. Five games were scheduled for the Bobcats in the tournament, but because of extreme cold and wind Saturday evening, the game against Saint Joseph’s was canceled.
“Overall, I think we did a great job this weekend, even in the games that we lost,” Ohio coach Jodi Hermanek said. “We were very good at getting hits when we needed them and while we want to win all games, coming out .500 isn’t bad.”
The Bobcats got off to a rough start, in the first game of the doubleheader against Virginia, Ohio was dominated 9-2.
Ohio held a 2-1 lead after three-and-a-half innings thanks to a solo home run from Chelsea Hortman in the second and an RBI double off the bat of Brooke Morgart in the third.
But Virginia broke out on offense in the bottom of the fourth inning with six runs. Kristen Hawkins of the Cavaliers hit a grand slam to give her team an advantage that they would hold the rest of the game.
The second game of the day was much closer, but again the Bobcats fell short of victory, 7-6.
The Bobcats had a 6-2 lead after five innings, but Virginia scored in the sixth and seventh innings to take a lead. The Cavaliers had only four hits during the entire game, but 12 walks handed out by Ohio pitchers doomed the Bobcats.
Hermanek said the second loss was very disappointing and she wants her team to focus on isolating walks, because they played well enough to win on offense and defense after committing only one error all weekend.
In the second day of action, Ohio played the first of two games against the Raiders. The tables turned for the Bobcats, as they were the team to come from behind and score two runs in the final two innings to win 4-3. Caitlin Colvin was the winning pitcher, striking out three and allowing only four base runners in three innings of relief.
On Sunday morning, in the final game of the invitational, Ohio was hot at the plate despite the cold weather.
The Bobcats recorded nine hits in their 7-0 victory as Hortman lead the team on offense with three RBIs. Colvin pitched a dominant complete-game shutout with seven strikeouts and only three hits.
“Even though the competition is getting tougher, we are getting better every game too,” Hermanek said. “We need to just keep working and focus on playing at our own level consistently and not try to match up with our opponents.”
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