The Buckeyes left Tulsa, Oklahoma with a bad taste in their mouthes as they dropped a 10-4 decision against Drake on Saturday night and were shut out 8-0 in six innings by Tulsa on Sunday to conclude play in the Holiday Inn Tulsa-City Center Festival.
The Buckeyes fell behind early to Drake when the Bulldogs were able to score two runs in the top of the first inning with one run scoring via an RBI sacrifice fly by Torey Craddock and the other run coming in when Amy Pierce scored just before the Buckeyes tagged out Molly McClelland in a run-down between first and second. Despite base hits by Dee Dee Hillman and Alicia Herron to start off the bottom of the first, the Buckeyes were not able to take advantage as Evelyn Carillo was tagged out while trying to steal second and Leesa Gresham struck out to end the inning.
The very next inning, the Bulldogs took advantage of Buckeye errors to increase their lead. Nicole Randel, after reaching on a OSU fielding error, scored on a Jenna Delong single to open the scoring. Two more runners scored on another Ohio State fielding error as Delong and Jordan Gronewald came around to score. Torey Craddox then followed it with a two-out RBI that was just out of the reach of outfielder Dee Dee Hillman. By the end of the inning, the Bulldogs had scored four runs-all unearned with two outs.
The Buckeyes responded by cutting the deficit in half by way of a three-run home run by Alicia Herron in the second inning, her 3rd dinger of the year. The Bulldogs would get those runs back, scoring two runs in the top of the fourth off of a Jordan Gronewald solo home run and an RBI double by Molly Mollihan.
Alicia Herron struck again in the bottom half of the fourth when she knocked in Melissa Rennie on an RBI double that came very close to leaving the yard. But like the top of fourth, the Bulldogs never let up on offense as they scored two in the top of the fifth. Jenna Delong contributed with an RBI single and Betty West scored from first after a Buckeye throw ended up in the Bulldogs' dugout.
For the game, Ohio State outhit Drake 14-9, but but left 11 players on base and committed four defensive errors. Melanie Nichols dropped to 0-2 on the season for the Buckeyes while Gronewald (1-0) picked up her first win of the season for the Bulldogs.
Sunday did not get much better for the Buckeyes as they ran a Tulsa squad that fired on all cylinders. Like Saturday, Ohio State fell behind early as the Golden Hurricane scored two in the top of the first on two-out RBI doubles by Skylar Swanson and Lacey Middlebrooks. They would tack on three more in the bottom of the third when Tulsa right fielder Lauren Menke knocked out a three-run home run to extend the lead to 5-0 over the Buckeyes. Tulsa would go on to score three more runs on a fielder's choice in the fourth and a Shelby Blanton RBI single and a Swanson RBI double.
The Buckeyes were not able to do much offensively as Aimee Creger pitched a one hit complete game shutout with eight strikeouts and two walks to pick up her seventh win of the season. Audrey Plant (1-2) was hit with the loss after pitching three innings, giving up five earned runs on five hits and two walks.
Ohio State will try to regroup as they get ready to travel to California to partcipate in the San Diego State Tournament next weekend.
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