Ohio (29-19, 19-7 Mid-American Conference) needed to win on the road this weekend, and it picked up three on the back of Skipp Miller’s 17 innings against Western Michigan (16-26, 10-13 MAC). Ohio moved into a tie for first place in the MAC with Miami after the weekend.
Here’s how the weekend went:
Game 1
In the first game of the series, Miller dominated in Ohio’s 7-1 victory, after Western Michigan scored a run in the bottom of the first inning. Ohio helped out its ace by getting seven runs across the plate, including three runs in the top of the second.
The second frame started off quiet with a popout. Then, Ohio hit three solo home runs in the next four at-bats. Emma Hoffner with a first-pitch home run off of Western Michigan starter Rissa Bajusz. The very next pitch was also hit for a home run by Sydney Grein to right center to give Ohio the lead. One at-bat later, CiCi Keidel, cracked a home run to left to give Miller another insurance run.
From then on, Miller allowed one more hit for the rest of the game.
The seventh inning is where the Bobcats took complete control of the game. The four-run frame was highlighted by a pair of two-run home runs. With two outs, Belle Hummel reached on an error that brought Yasmine Logan to the plate. Logan hit a home run to make the Broncos pay for their error. However, Alexis Dawe walked and Annalia Paoli also hit a home run that took the pressure off the Bobcats in the bottom of the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh Miller retired three straight hitters to cap the Bobcats’ 7-1 victory.
Game 2
The Bobcats had to battle for their 13-11 win.
Poor weather conditions meant the second game of the series couldn’t be finished in one day. Rain caused the field to be flooded and unplayable for the rest of the day, postponing the game until the next morning.
Ohio scored in the first inning after loading the bases before recording an out, they were only able to score one run in the inning before the delay came in the second.
After the delay, Kylie Coffelt resumed pitching before being relieved in the fourth.
Ohio extended its lead with a pair of solo home runs by Logan and Paoli to make it a 3-0 game going into the bottom of the third.
Coffelt struggled in the third and fourth, surrendering two runs in the third before being pulled after one batter in the fourth.
Keegan Moore entered the game and gave up a pair of RBI singles to give Western Michigan its first lead of the series. The damage was not limited to two runs as a two-run error by Westler at third base made it 7-3.
After a five-run fourth inning for Western Michigan, Ohio responded with five runs of its own to reclaim the lead. The inning got going when Paoli hit an RBI single and Hoffner followed it up with an RBI knock of her own. Keidel capped off the frame with an RBI single to make it 8-7 in favor of Ohio.
Western Michigan tied the game shortly thereafter but Ohio was able to get some solid pitching from Moore. Going into the seventh inning, Ohio was able to break through again with three runs. Westler and Hummel both recorded RBIs while Keidel scored on a passed ball to make it 11-8.
Coming back for the seventh, Moore had the opportunity to close out the win. However, she allowed Western Michigan to tie the game with a three-run home run.
In extra innings, Miller entered and silenced the Broncos’ offense. In the top of the 10th inning, the Bobcats put the ball in play with an RBI bunt single from Keidel that scored the go-ahead run. Miller did her job in the bottom half of the inning that helped the Bobcats collect a win.
Game 3
Ohio overcame a resilient Western Michigan team to win the series with a 5-1 victory on Sunday.
In the first, Paoli hit a sacrifice fly to put Ohio ahead. With an early lead, Miller gave up a solo home run which evened the score in the bottom of the first.
Logan tallied three hits in the final game including a tiebreaking RBI single in the third inning and a three-run home run that gave Ohio a 5-1 lead in the fifth.
After giving up a run in the first, Miller gave up five hits and struck out a career-high eight Broncos en route to her third win of the weekend and 16th of the season.
