With an upcoming six-game home stand, the Bobcats are ready to break away from their recent inconsistent play and get back into the win column against two Mid-American Conference opponents this weekend.
Ohio (16-23, 5-5 MAC) will host Northern Illinois and Western Michigan for a pair of two-game sets at Ohio Softball Field.
“We need to come out and compete hard every inning and work to win every inning,” Ohio coach Jodi Hermanek said. “We’ve been too inconsistent to see success one game after the next, I know it’s there, we just have to figure out how to bring it to the surface everyday.”
The Bobcats, who have lost three straight games, will begin the weekend with a doubleheader Friday afternoon against Northern Illinois (18-24, 6-6 MAC).
Northern Illinois has won only three of its last seven games and has a pitching staff that has been struggling, having allowed 170 walks and recording an earned run average of nearly four runs.
If the Bobcats want to get ahead on the scoreboard early, they have a good chance based on trends thus far. Ohio has scored 58 runs in the first two innings this season, while Northern Illinois has allowed 53 runs while scoring 43.
“The pitching staffs that we’re going to see this weekend are similar pitching styles, so if we can just continue to trust our game plan we’re going to have success this weekend,” Hermanek said.
After playing the Huskies, Ohio will next bring Western Michigan to Athens for two games Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
The Broncos (19-17, 5-5 MAC) have lost five of their last six contests and like the Bobcats, are experiencing offensive woes lately.
Western Michigan has scored only 16 runs in those six games, but on the season the Broncos are still batting above .260 and have outscored their opponents by 20 runs. Pitching has been the team’s strong suit as the staff has an ERA of only 2.75.
Western Michigan will likely toss current MAC West Pitcher of the Week Meredith Whitney against the Bobcats. Whitney has received the award twice this season as she is coming off a week in which she went 2-1 with 31 strikeouts. She also led the Broncos to a shut out of No. 20 Michigan for the first time since 1992.
“I think we are still fine in our conference,” catcher Lauren Gellerman said. “We have lost some games we really should have won and I believe we have a really good chance against anyone we play in the MAC.”
Gellerman has been hot at the plate with two home runs in the last four games, as she now tied for the team lead in home runs (6) and is first in runs batted in (25).
On the hill for Ohio for the majority of the weekend will once again be freshman ace Lauren McClary, who will be in search of win number 10. She already has 142 strikeouts in 142.1 innings pitched with an ERA of 3.44.
cl027410@ohiou.edu
