Softball: Ohio State heads to East Lansing for first road conference series against Michigan State

Megan Husslein
Fri, 01 Apr 2022 02:50:12 +0000
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Ohio State senior Jaycee Ruberti (37) celebrates with senior Niki Carver (8) after Carver’s home run during the Ohio State-Indiana game March 23. Ohio State won 6-2. Credit: Katie Good | For the Lantern

After upsetting No. 8 Kentucky Tuesday, the Buckeyes are looking to keep their momentum rolling as they take on Michigan State this weekend.

Prior to its first top-10 win of the season, Ohio State (21-6, 2-1 Big Ten) took two of three games from Indiana to win its first conference series of the season. Now, it looks to use both of those wins as a spark to continue into this series.

“We’re not on a ton of people’s radar yet. We’re still, every game, trying to come out and prove a point that we can compete with these ranked teams,” freshman infielder Kami Kortokrax said. “Getting that opportunity to play a really good ranked team and beat them, that was a really good confidence boost for our team in general.”

While the Spartans (19-13, 0-3 Big Ten) aren’t ranked, they still pose a challenge as a conference foe. Michigan State is led by the best pitching staff in the Big Ten, having a collective 1.55 ERA. The team’s ace is sophomore right-hander Ashley Miller, who currently holds a 0.80 ERA in 105 1/3 innings pitched.

“Obviously we need to put the pressure on her and put good balls in play and make the defense work, and hopefully we’re feeling good about our swings and our offense,” head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly said. “I think we have a lot of kids in the lineup feeling really good about what they got going on, so we are going to focus on us.”

Miller’s defense isn’t giving her too much help behind her, as the Spartans have committed the fourth-most errors in the conference with 31.?

Kortokrax said Miller’s best pitch is her drop ball, and the Buckeyes are focusing on forming a game plan for that pitch.

“This week’s main focus is lay off the junk and find something hard we can drive,” Kortokrax said. “We’ve really been focusing on being dialed in every at-bat, every pitch, knowing what we’re looking for and finding it, and once we see it, go for it.”

As for the Buckeyes’ pitching staff, graduate lefty Lexie Handley has shouldered the majority of innings as of late, pitching three complete games out of the past four played. The southpaw has a 1.73 ERA with 131 strikeouts in 101 1/3 innings pitched, all team bests.

Prior to the Indiana series, Schoenly said the staff was going on a three-pitcher rotation, with Handley as the ace followed by sophomore right-handers Allison Smith and Emily Ruck. She said she will have to see how the weekend goes before she decides on implementing it for this series but hopes Smith will be utilized like she was last year against the Spartans.

“I really truly want to get that first game strong and then, depending on how many pitchers we use in the first game, worry about the next game,” Schoenly said. “I think all three are ready to go and all three are capable.”

Ohio State is off to its best start in recent years, and Kortokrax said a big key to that is the team camaraderie.

“Each one of us has a true passion to want to win, and that drives us to be successful, work hard and put in the extra hours,” Kortokrax said. “[Wednesday] was our off day and almost everybody showed up to put in extra work, which was really cool to see. So, it just shows that we know what we’re capable of and we have the drive to push through and do it.”

The first game of the Buckeyes’ three-game series against Michigan State begins Friday at 6 p.m. followed by Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. All games will be streamed on BTN+.