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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Buckeyes End Weekend at Cathedral City Classic with Losses to No. 18 Nebraska, No. 2 UCLA

Ohio State ended a disappointing and frustrating weekend at the Cathedral City Classic in Palm Springs, California, suffering a 10-0 defeat in five innings to No. 18 Nebraska and a 12-5 rout at the hands of No. 2 UCLA.

In their first game on Sunday morning, the Buckeyes were blitzed by a potent Nebraska offensive attack that allowed the Cornhuskers to score 3 runs in each of the first three innings. It also did not help matters that the main firestarter of these Cornhusker offensive outbursts were three Buckeye errors. Nebraska received excellent pitching from starter Ashley Hageman (10-1) and reliever Tatum Edwards, who combined on a one hit shutout. Aubrey Plant fell to 0-2 for the Buckeyes as she gave up two earned runs on three hits in one inning with one strikeout.

In their second game, the Buckeyes found themselves behind early after UCLA scored four runs in the bottom half of the first inning. Buckeye freshman pitcher Kasie Kelly was called for two consecutive illegal pitches with runners on second and third, allowing the Bruins to go up 3-0 early on. The Bruins would add a fourth run after Kelly tallied her third illegal pitch of the inning. Aubrey Plant, the third pitcher of the inning for the Buckeyes, was finally able to get Ohio State out of the first with a strikeout and groundout. It ended a very frustrating inning for Ohio State pitching which was called for six illegal pitches during the bottom of the first.

Ohio State would make a rally in the top of the second inning via a rbi single by Vanessa Spears and a double steal that scored Meghan Coletta from third, drawing the Buckeyes within two of the Bruins. UCLA would respond, scoring three runs in the bottom half of the second courtesy of an rbi single by Kellie Fox and Alyssa Tiumalu knocking in two with a single.

Again, the Buckeyes attempted to rally in the top of the 4th. Thanks to a couple of Bruin errors, the Buckeyes were able to load the bases. Junior co-captain Alicia Herron then delivered for the Buckeyes with a single that drove in Melaina Saalfeld. An error by Bruins shortstop Kellie Fox allowed Megan Coletta to score for the second run of the inning. Soon after that, a wild pitch allowed senior co-captain Dee Dee Hilman to score from third to draw the Buckeyes within two.
Unfortunately for Ohio State, it would be UCLA the rest of the way as the Bruins added three runs in the bottom of the fourth and two in the bottom of the sixth.

Karisa Medrano dropped to 1-6 for the Buckeyes while Jessica Hall (7-3) picked up the win for the Bruins.

The Buckeyes will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma to partcipate in the Tulsa Tournament.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Buckeyes Drop Two Games at Cathedral City Classic Saturday

It was a day to forget for the Ohio State Women's Softball program (4-9) as they dropped two contests Saturday at the Cathedral City Classic, losing to No. 25 BYU 5-1 and UC Santa Barbara 11-3 in five innings.

In the first game, BYU struck immediately in the top of the first inning as Ohio State senior Karisa Medrano was called for an illegal pitch, allowing Cougar lead-off hitter J.C. Clayton to score for a 1-0 BYU lead. The Cougars tacked on their second run of the ballgame when BYU first baseman Katie Manuma scored from third after Buckeye sophomore catcher Cara Longworth miss threw the throw back to Audrey Plant, who relieved Medrano in the first inning.

The Buckeyes would cut into the Cougar lead in the bottom of the third when junior co-captain Alicia Herron scored on an Evelyn Carrillo single to make it 2-1. However, the Cougars would get that run back as BYU right fielder Delaney Willard blasted a solo shot to deep center in the bottom half of the third for a 3-1 Cougar lead.

The Buckeyes had a great offensive opportunity in the top of the sixth inning when they loaded the bases with two out. Unfortunately, sophomore Megan Colletta was not able to come through for the Scarlet and Gray as she grounded out to second to end the Buckeye scoring threat. BYU would then tack on two more runs in the top of the seventh courtesy of a two-run shot from catcher Jessica Purcell-Fitu.

The Cougars outhit the Buckeyes 8-3. Aubrey Plant (0-1) was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs on eight hits with one strikeout. Pagie Affleck (4-5) got the win for the Cougars after limiting the Buckeyes to 1 run on three hits and striking out five in a complete game victory.

The second game against UC Santa Barbara would prove to be more frustrating for the Buckeyes. In the top of the third inning, the Gauchos managed to score five runs as they took advantage of costly Buckeye fielding mistakes. A wild pitch by Karisa Medrano plated one run with another run to follow after Kara Longworth overthrew Medrano as she attempted to get the ball back to the senior pitcher. The Gauchos plated a third run in the inning with an rbi single from by Lauren Boser and tacked on two more on a two-run home run by Allison Taylor.

Needing a rally, the Buckeyes responded with a three run outburst in the bottom half of the inning. Alicia Herron plated Megan Coletta with an rbi single, and Evelyn Carrillo knocked in two with a single to draw the Buckeyes within two runs of the Gauchos. After that, it was UC Santa Barbara the rest of the way as the Gauchos scored six times in the fourth inning with five runs scoring with two outs.

The Gauchos outhit the Buckeyes 11-7 with Medrano falling to 1-5 on the season and Andriana Collins picking up her 6th win of the season.

The Buckeyes will conclude play in the Cathedral City Classic on Sunday when they take on No. 18 Nebraska at 11:30 A.M. EST, followed by No. 2 UCLA at 2:00 P.M. EST.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Buckeyes Start Out on Wrong Foot, Lose to Texas A&M 10-1

The Ohio State Women's Softball team did not get off on the right foot as they dropped a 10-1 decision to No. 24 Texas A&M in their first game at the Cathedral City Classic in Palm Springs, California.

At the beginning of the game, it looked like Ohio State would jump on the Aggies early. Dee Dee Hilman led off the game with a triple. Unfortunately, the Buckeyes were not able to take advantage of the scoring opportunity as Aggies pitcher Lindsey Sisk struck out two OSU batters to end the Scarlet and Gray scoring threat.

The Aggies got on the board first with a solo home run from third baseman Amber Garza in the bottom of the second inning. Buckeye junior shorstop Alicia Herron tried to tie up the contest in the top of the third, but it was not to be as the wind knocked down her drive deep to center, thwarting another Buckeye scoring opportunity.

The Aggies then played add-on to their lead as Melissa Dumezich delivered a grand slam in the bottom of the third to extend the Aggie advantage to 5-0. Ohio State eventually got on the board with a lead-off solo shot from freshmen Evelyn Carrillo in the top of the 4th inning, but it was all Texas A&M after that as they would put five more runs on the board in the bottom of the 4th, courtesy of Rhie Kliesing knocking in two with a single, a sacrifice fly by Meagan May, Dumezich getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and a sacrifice fly by Nichole Morgan.

For the game, the Aggies outhit the Buckeyes 6-4 with Kasie Kelly (2-2) taking the loss for the Buckeyes and Sisk (5-2) picking up the win for Texas A&M.

Ohio State will be back at it again as they take on No. 25 BYU Saturday afternoon at 1:00 P.M. EST. The Buckeyes will then turn their attention to UC Santa Barbara at 3:30 P.M. EST.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Buckeyes End Home Season

The Ohio State women’s hockey team celebrated the final home games for five seniors on Saturday. Unfortunately, it was the defending national champions from Minnesota Duluth who ended up celebrating at the end of the weekend.

The Buckeyes dropped both games to the sixth ranked Bulldogs by scores of 5-2 and 5-1. OSU has now lost 8 straight home games and will have to wait until October to win their first home game of 2011.

It should be pointed out that all 8 games were lost to a top ten team and OSU is 4-0 on the road in 2011.

OSU still has at least two weeks left in their season.

This weekend they travel to Bemidji (2:00pm Fri/Sat) in a matchup mostly for positive momentum going into the playoffs. The Buckeyes have all but clinched the six seed in the tournament, while the Beavers are a lock for the five seed.

Right now the odds are Ohio State will travel to Duluth for a three game series with the Bulldogs in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, Feb. 25-27. It is also possible the Bucks would have to go to Minnesota or North Dakota.

Any of those three teams would be a tough match for Ohio State, although this team has shown the potential to pull upsets and has a win at Duluth and shootout win in Grand Forks this season.

The Buckeyes best shot to pull a first round playoff upset for the second year would come with a series against the Fighting Sioux.

OSU matched up best against the Sioux this year with every game decided by one goal, and three of the four going into overtime.

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Before Saturday’s game OSU honored its five seniors playing their last home game. Defensemen Shannon Reilly and Teal Bishop will leave a void on the blue line, while up front the Buckeyes lose Jenna Kilpatrick, Sandy Nelson, and captain Christina Mancuso.

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Amanda Boskovich, Brittany Carlson, and Kelly Wild were named WCHA Scholar-Athletes. These three Buckeyes have maintained at least a cumulative 3.5 GPA or at least a 3.5 GPA over the last year.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Streak Busters

How ironic is it that in a 24 hour stretch two of the longest streaks in Ohio sports history come to an end. One showing that things can finally get better and one proving that perfection is impossible.

The Cavs started the weekend on Friday night by finally winning a game, their first in 27 tries. Mo Williams, coincidentally, finally played after missing weeks due to injury. J.J. Hickson showed up and Antawn Jamison, who answered all of the tough questions during the streak, provided a big veteran presence and kept other players motivated, iced the game with a 3 to put the Cavs up by 4 in overtime against the L.A. Clippers.

While the losing ended for the Cavs, it finally happened to Ohio State Saturday afternoon at Wisconsin (yeah, the same Wisconsin that beat #1 OSU football at home). Ohio State is now 0-6 at the Kohl Center up in Madison since its inception. Ohio State played tough but a great game from both Sullinger and Buford wasn't enough.

Here are the facts. Both teams, despite busting their streaks, are in contention for #1 (the Bucks WILL return to #1 in College Basketball, ot atleast obtain a #1 seed and the Cavs can still get the #1 pick come lottery time in June). The Cavs have missed starters Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao for the majority of the year, and actually beat the Celtics at the beginning of the year.

OSU lost because Wisconsin refused to miss a three pointer. Ohio State shot a higher field goal percentage, outrebounded the Badgers, had more assists, less turnovers, a higher free throw percentage, more steals, less fouls all on Wisconsin's home floor. The Badgers just so happened to shoot 50% (12-24) behind the arch, which accounted for 36 of their 70 points in a game Wisconsin won by 4. That's like if Wisconsin football would've won by 3 with 4 punt returns or if a team wins in baseball by 1 run with 2 grand slams in a game. Simply put, it rarely ever happens that a team gets that much of their offense in such an obscure way. There is nothing to worry about Buckeye basketball fans. If the Badgers were even 40% for 3 (still above average), Ohio State wins.

Wisconsin fans, savor the win. It is very likely that just like football, your season ends with a loss to a mid-major while Ohio State fans celebrate the biggest win in the history of that sport for the university (even though it was the Sugar Bowl, it was OSU's first win over an SEC team).

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Prahalis/Lavender star in 90-67 win over Purdue

Things were looking grim for the Buckeyes after having lost their last three games, but a little change of scenery made a big difference.

The Buckeyes went just down High Street to play in their first ever regular season game in Nationwide arena, and didn't disappoint as the fans were treated to a rout of the Boilermakers, the team they beat to in the Big 10 tournament championship last year. Ohio State did most of their damage in the latter part of the first half to go into halftime up 17 thanks in part to a buzzer beating three by Brittany Johnson. The Buckeyes were led by Jantel Lavender (21pts 9reb 3ast) and Samantha Prahalis (12pts 12ast 2reb) as they worked the pick and roll to perfection. Brittany Johnson connected on five of six three pointers and finished with 17 points.

The win pushes Ohio State's record to (14-9, 5-6). Ohio State has five more games left before the Big Ten tournament and needs to win the majority of them, if they hope to be safely in the tournament field this March.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

No football?

There are three letters that are scaring the life out of me: C. B. A. Like something out of a Stephen King horror, there is the looming possibility that the 2011-2012 NFL season may be brutally murdered.
The NFL Player's Association and the NFL owners have yet to agree on a deal for how much money each side makes and how many games a season will be (among other things) in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The two sides have until March 3 to come to an agreement. However, the sides have reportedly had 9 hour meetings as recently as Tuesday the 8th with little to no progress at all. Basically, it's millionaires who have their brains beaten in for a living, whose average career is about 2 years and also have few retirement benefits against the greedy, billionaire owners who want to extend the season, charge higher prices for tickets, get replay boards for the stadium which interfere with the actual game and manage to displace 400 fans for the Super Bowl in an attempt to break the all-time attendance record.
Ok, so maybe you figured that I empathize with the players a bit more than the owners. At the end of the day, it's millionaires versus billionaires and each side is asking for a larger cut of the league's profits. The most frightening thing is that both sides are also willing to compromise the season itself for this money (which we the fans will be paying for in the end). As a matter of fact, only two parties will suffer in the end, and neither have a say in this clash for cash.
The first would obviously be the fans. Although fans have no true say in how the enterprise (the NFL) is ran, each fan is essentially a stock holder and invests in each team and the league as a whole. If this C.B.A. agreement isn't reached, the season may be lost. Fans will be dissapointed and all will seem lost.
However, it will not be like the strike shortened '94 season in the MLB, which in my opinion has dropped the MLB behind the NBA in sport popularity. Why? The NFL is too damn popular, period.
I see it like this: the MLB is, say, Jennifer Aniston, who you love. Say she cheats on you. Down the road, while you're in a relationship with another girl, Jennifer wants a second chance. You think about giving her the chance, but she ripped your heart out, and for a time you never thought you could love again.
Now, the NFL is Brooklyn Decker. She is hot beyond belief, you love her and honestly spend time wondering why the heck she's even with you. Then she cheats on you and you're devastated. Some time passes and you're in this intimate relationship with another woman. All of a sudden, Brooklyn wants you back! You don't think twice, you drop this new girl like a hot tamale and sprint back to Ms. Decker! Point is, the fans will eventually recover from a year without football.
The other side to the equation are the thousands of people whose entire livelihood depends on the NFL. Beer vendors, broadcasters, cameramen, (by the way cheerleaders are all volunteers), team physicians, athletic trainers chain gang men and any others I may have missed depend entirely on the NFL having games to make a decent living. The NFLPA and owners must realize that while they are scuffling over what is essentially chump change to them, the real people behind the scenes in the NFL are losing their entire livelihood.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

OSU Women fall to Northwestern 74-68

Amy Jaeschke scored 29, and gathered 7 rebounds as her Northwestern Wildcats ended a 4-game winning streak, and notched their first Win in Value City Arena. The Buckeyes were led by Freshman Ashley Adams (18pts, and 5 rebounds), and had a 2 point lead at halftime that grew as big as 8 points with 13:05 left in the game. Samantha Prahalis recorded a triple double with 13 pts, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. The Buckeyes shot a higher percentage from the field than the Wildcats, but Northwestern certainly had the free throw advantage connecting on 12 of 15, compared to Ohio State's 6 of 10. This is Ohio State's 6th Big Ten loss of the season, dropping their record down to (13-9, 4-6).

On another note, Jantel Lavender tied Katie Smiths record of consecutive starts with 124.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

National Signing Day

Honestly, Signing Day is an overrated event. It's nice that these high school athletes, the majority of whom will be lost in the shuffle of college football, get a huge stage and nice publicity. However, like I said, the majority of these players will lose their relevancy. It's simple statistics. There aren't even enough starting spots for each of these key recruits. In my opinion, it's nice that these athletes can have their 15 minutes of fame, but the reality is most of them won't even be relevant college football players. Making it to the NFL is a lot like winning the lottery, except that a lot of hard work and talent goes with the luck it takes to make it.