‘Stacked’ OSU softball is optimistic about 2024
Ohio State pitcher Emily Ruck had an idea that her senior softball season would be different.
“You have nothing to lose,” she said. “And I feel like throughout the process of the beginning of the end, the first lasts or whatever you want to call it, it's definitely been like that.”
In 2023, Ruck and the Buckeyes secured a second straight 30-win season. However, Ohio State lost in a quarterfinal of the Big Ten tournament on a walk-off single, and while the Buckeyes played 26 of 53 games against top-75 teams in the NCAA'S RPI rankings, they failed to receive an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament.
“It was like, holy crap, how's that possible?” coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly said. “We had a great season. It's crazy that we put it in someone else's hands.”
According to Ohio State senior catcher Sam Hackenbracht, the team is looking forward, unburdened by the way 2023 finished.
“We are stacked,” Hackenbracht said. “Everybody on our team is stacked, from top to bottom in our order. We have great freshmen. Everybody in the dugout, anybody anytime can get any job done.”
Along with returners such as Hackenbracht and Ruck, outfielder Tegan
Cortelletti, utility player Mckenzie Bump and pitcher Allison Smith, Ohio State added five freshmen for this season, including catcher Jasmyn Burns, who earned the Big Ten's first 2024 Freshman of the Week honor.
“We just got a nice combination of freshmen that work hard, they're humble and they want to fit into the system,” Schoenly said. “They don't want to buck the system. They want to follow the leaders, and that's not always the case.”
After suffering a loss to Stony Brook in the 2024 opener, Ohio State won its next four games at the Felsberg Invitational, outscoring Florida International, Southeast Missouri State and Stony Brook 35-6.
They followed that up with 6-0 and 7-2 wins over Coastal Carolina and UC Riverside, respectively, at The Spring Games.
Ohio State is participating in the Sun Devil Classic this weekend. Then it's on to the Tennessee Invitational and the Kentucky Invitational before opening Big Ten play against Rutgers on March 22.
The Buckeyes will host Dayton in their first home game of the 2024 season at 4 p.m. on March 27.
“Something I value most is winning,” Ruck said. ”I play the game to win it. I want to win every game we possibly can.” cgay@dispatch.com @_Colingay