A technicality in the Mid-American Conference by-laws turned a 5-3 deficit into a 3-1 victory for the Ohio Bobcats over the Eastern Michigan Eagles in a rain-shorted contest.
After the Bobcats took a two-run lead into the top of the six inning, the Eagles bats sparked to life as the rain became heavier. Ohio pitcher Emily Wethington had pitched out of danger all afternoon but Eastern Michigan finally took advantage of their base runners. Nellie Coquillard led off the inning with a sharp single before clean-up hitter Sarah Gerber hit a towering home run to center field to knot the score.
More damage was to come as McKenna Ross made it three straight hits with a double into the gap. Amanda Stanton struck out to allow the Ohio defense confidence, but it didn’t last long as Allison Scherer then gave Eastern Michigan the lead with the team’s second home run of the inning.
Ominous dark clouds hung over Ohio Softball Field all afternoon and the weather had already played a pivotal role in the rhythm of the game. The start time was delayed an hour and as the ever-present drizzle turned into a downpour in the top of the sixth inning, a rain delay was issued following Scherer’s blast. The skies cleared for a moment, allowing play to continue though not for long. Lightning forced an end to the game and sent the ruling to the MAC officials.
Protocol on how to decide rain-shortened games is decided on a conference-by-conference basis. The MAC ruling is that if a contest is rained out in the middle of an inning, the game rewinds back to the final completed frame. Eastern Michigan’s four-run sixth was effectively erased and Ohio’s 3-1 lead stood as the final tally.
“I told the girls before the game, our focus in on one through five because who knew what was gonna happen to us,” head coach Jodi Hermanek said. “Before the game it was all about the radar, the radar, the radar. We got through one through five on the stronger end…Kudos to something helping us out, whether it was the weather or NCAA rules.”
The showdown was a vital one in shaking out the congested MAC standings, taking Ohio to 6-6 in conference play and 17-19 overall and dropping the Eagles to 8-6 and 22-12. The conference takes the top eight teams to its conference tournament, regardless of division. With Ohio sitting perilously close to the cutoff line, the bizarre win was a much needed one.
“We’re proud of the win because we worked through more than half the innings,” Hermanek said. “But at the same time, every game means so much to us right now…In this conference, every game in meaningful, so if you lose a game through the weather, every game is going to mean something.”
The teams traded scoreless frames in the first inning before Eastern Michigan opened the scoring. Russ led off with a triple down the line before Scherer’s bloop single to right knocked her in. In a sign of things to come, an oft-overlooked rule benefited the Bobcats and took the teeth out of the rally. Lauren Delapaz followed up Scherer’s single with one of her own, but Scherer was ruled out for leaving first base early. Wethington responded by striking out Lindsay Smith to end the inning.
Nine-hitter Jillian Van Wagnen sparked Ohio’s first run of the game with a lead-off infield single and then stole second with an unorthodox slide. The ball beat her to the base but she managed to elude the tag to give the Bobcats a runner in scoring position. Paige Kemezis picked up the RBI by lining a pitch off of the glove of shortstop Stacie Skodinski and into center field.
As the weather grew worse, both teams were aware that each inning could be the last and an increased urgency was evident.
“Sometimes it brings players to a place of rushing and pressuring,” Hermanek said. “We’ve had bad weather every time we’ve played. We needed to keep it simple. It is not ideal conditions for softball, but both teams have to play in them.”
Ohio took the coveted lead in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Alexis Joseph and Kemezis led off with back-to-back singles before Melissa Bonner moved them over with a ground out to second. Eastern Michigan pitcher Lauren Wells elected to intentionally walk Wethington to load the bases, and Lauren Gellerman made her pay with a two-run double off of the wall in right field to set the contested final score.
“I told (Gellerman) to work the count and see some pitches,” Hermanek said. “The first pitch she blasted it, so I was like ‘Okay, or don’t.’ A good hitter knows when she wants to commit.”
Wethington earned the win to improve to 14-8 on the year, while Wells dropped to 7-2.
The teams return to action tomorrow afternoon for Ohio’s senior day at 1 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment