In its first game of the season played in the shadows of The Convo, Ohio (12-12, 0-0 MAC) was unable to muster much of anything positive against Marshall (14-11, 0-0 SBC), losing 9-2. A game that was bookended by poor innings to begin and end the game for the pitchers spelled disaster from the start. Outside of a late rally that was snuffed out by Marshall, the home fans had little to cheer about due in large part to a tough day for the Ohio lineup against Marshall starter Bub Feringa.
Ace Skipp Miller was given the ball for Ohio and was immediately ambushed by Marshall. Before she could record an out, Marshall struck for a run as a leadoff hit batter and a subsequent single by Bella Gerlach made it 1-0, as an unearned run scored in the blink of an eye. After one retired batter, Miller surrendered another run on an error in left field by Izzie Wilson that allowed Gerlach to score, making it 2-0. Brooklyn Ulrich singled, and another run scored, creating a quick 3-0 deficit for Ohio.
Each of the runs surrendered by Miller were unearned, but that did not remove the sting of seeing a crooked number on the board in the first inning. In the bottom half of the frame, Marshall’s starting pitcher, Feringa, worked around a two-out single for Emma Hoffner to maintain the three-run cushion.
Miller got a 1-2-3 second inning, looking more like the pitcher that she was the last time she pitched at OSF, a season where she won MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year. The offense for Ohio produced little as a two-out baserunner again yielded nothing.
In the top of the third, Feringa helped her own cause by picking up an RBI single to make the game 4-0 in favor of the Thundering Herd. For the Bobcats, another two-out rally looked to be in the works as Lauren Yuhas singled to center field and Hoffner doubled down the left-field line to put the first two runners in scoring position for the Bobcats. Feringa avoided any damage and kept the Bobcats scoreless.
Another insurance run was scored by Marshall in the top of the fourth, widening the gap to a 5-0 game. Miller worked around the run and limited the damage. For the fourth straight frame, Ohio had runners on base only to strand them without pushing anything across. As if playing a broken record, Ohio did the same thing again in the bottom of the fifth, but against a different pitcher as Kaleea Washington relieved Feringa.
In the bottom of the sixth, Ohio finally got on the board as with one out, Brenna Farmer skied a two-run home run to give Ohio some life. In the same inning, Ohio was able to get the tying run to the plate in the form of its hottest hitter, Hoffner. Marshall opted to give the ball back to Feringa, who induced a flyout to end the inning.
Ohio head coach Jenna Hall pulled Miller with one out and two runners on base. Mikie Lieving came in and hit her first batter as Miller did in the first inning. The next batter, Ulrich, hit a grand slam to effectively end the game, pushing it to a 9-2 Marshall advantage. That score would stand as Ohio’s record went back to .500 and it has now lost seven of its last eight games. As it begins Mid-American Conference play this weekend, Ohio will look to regain some of the consistency that it had earlier in the season, particularly at the plate.
