Buckeyes Split First Two Games in Tulsa Tournament

Ohio State split their first two games to kick off the 2011 Holiday Inn Tulsa-City Center Festival, losing 7-4 to North Dakota in the first game and winning 8-0 in five innings against Iowa State in the second game.

In the first game, North Dakota got on the board first in the third inning when Kayelee Schoeny singled up the middle to score Cami Bennett on a rbi single.Ohio State came right back in the bottom half of the inning when Alicia Herron scored on a Leesa Gresham rbi single.

The Buckeyes then took the lead in the bottom of the 4th when, after three straight two-out hits, Brittany Mills smacked a hit down the left field knocking in one run. Mills was followed up by rbi singles by Alicia Herron and Evelyn Carillo.

After North Dakota drew within one of the Buckeyes, Ohio State would tacked on another run as Carillo ended up scoring from third on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 Buckeye lead. Unfortunately for the Bucks, it was a day where UND would not be denied. North Dakota cut into the lead with a Caralyn Chewing home run to open the top of the sixth. The very next inning, North Dakota loaded the bases and would go on to score 4 runs with three of them coming via a three run shot from Chewing. It was a disappointing loss for Ohio State as Kasie Kelly dropped to 2-3 on the season while Michelle Frank improved to 3-7

After suffering a heartbreaker at the hands of North Dakota, the Buckeyes responded with a great effort against the Iowa State Cyclones. Ohio State took advantage of two Cyclone throwing errors in the second inning when Melissa Rennie and Dee Dee Hillman came all the way around to score for an early 2-0 Buckeye lead.

The Buckeyes offense then went on a tear in the fifth inning when they scored five runs on a Alicia Herron rbi single, a Meghan Coletta rbi single, a Brittany Goodchild two-rbi double, a Melaina Saalfeld rbi sacrifice fly, and Goodchild scoring on a steal of home. All in all, Ohio State recorded five hits in the inning with seven batters reaching base safely. It also proved to be an impressive game for freshman Aubrey Plant. Plant (1-1) shut out the Cyclones on 1 hit while striking out 5 with 2 walks in five innings.

The Buckeyes will continue play in Tulsa on Saturday when they take on Drake at 5:45 pm.