Ohio split its Tuesday series with Marshall.
Coming into Tuesday afternoon's doubleheader, Ohio had won eight-consecutive games. This was thanks to the pitching staff, which included back-to-back defending Mid-American Conference East Pitcher of the Week, Savannah Jo Dorsey.
Game Two
Game Two was reminiscent of this past weekend for the Bobcats, with Dorsey dominating in the circle in the midst of another one-run game. That is, until third basemen Mikayla Cooper got going.
A two-run home run in the fourth and a two-run single in the seventh made Ohio's lead a more comfortable 5-0.
Ohio went on to add two more runs in the seventh and win the game 7-0.
Last season as a freshman, Cooper was called upon to pitch more often than planned because of Dorsey's injury. Coming into this year, Hermanek hailed her as one of the best defensive third basemen in the country.
But not much was said about her bat. Last year, Cooper hit .258 with six home runs and 13 RBIs.
Coming into Tuesday's doubleheader, Cooper was hitting .456 with four home runs and 17 RBIs. She added four more RBI's on and a home run on Tuesday.
Dorsey has now gone 48 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run. But, her last seven are perhaps the most impressive, considering Marshall is the No. 17 ranked team in batting average and given that Marshall was able to score eight runs in the first game.
Dorsey was also the beneficiary of improved defensive play in the second game.
"We came out in the second game and put up runs early and continued to put up runs," coach Jodi Hermanek said. "I think it was just a day where whichever team played the best defense was going to win.”
Game One
In the first game of the double-header, the Ohio hot streak halted dead in its tracks. Marshall lived up to its nationally-renowned team batting average (with some help from the Bobcats' defense), and shut out (and no hit) the Bobcats 8-0 in six innings.
Ohio never allowed more than four runs during its eight-game winning streak. But Marshall proved to be a different offensive animal from the start by scoring five runs in its first at bat.
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Pitcher Danielle Stiene showed signs of life in the circle at times, holding Marshall scoreless in the second, third and fifth innings. But, the first inning explosion, uncharacteristic defensive mistakes, and lack of run support left Marshall with little work to do to put Ohio away.
Ohio was only able to get four runners on base all game: 2 via walks, 2 via errors. Also, four of the runs allowed by Stiene were unearned.
"It was a very uncharacteristic style of defense for us in the first game,” Hermanek said. “Marshall puts a lot of pressure on you and we struggled to put up runs in the first game."
Yes, Ohio did get beaten thoroughly in the first game. However, they proved in the second that with Dorsey pitching, they can shut down any offense.
Assuming Stiene doesn't make a habit of giving up eight runs a game (four were unearned and she has yet to give up more than four earned runs all season), Ohio appears ready for the start of conference play.
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