April 14, 2013
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A two-run blast from Macy Jones put Penn State up, 3-2, in the top of the seventh, but Ohio State posted two runs over the final two frames to take a 4-3 decision Sunday afternoon at Buckeye Field in Columbus, Ohio. The game was just the extra-inning contest for the Nittany Lions (10-26, 1-10 Big Ten) this season.
Penn State returns home for a Wednesday doubleheader with Purdue beginning at 5 p.m. before hosting Northwestern for a three-game set starting at 6 p.m. Friday.
Jones (Ashburn, Va.) (9-11) limited the Buckeyes (26-14, 6-6 Big Ten) to just five hits in the series finale in her ninth complete-game effort while also leading all batters with three RBI with her fifth home run of the season. Ohio State's Alex DiDomenico (11-6) picked up the win, allowing two earned runs on six hits.
Senior Alyssa Renwick (Laurens, S.C.) surpassed the 30-hit mark for the second time in her career with her 10th multi-hit game of the season as she finished the day 3-4 at the plate with three singles. She has posted eight hits in the last four games, including five in the series against Ohio State. Reina Furuya (Waipahu, Hawaii) and Shannon Hutchinson (Sewell, N.J.) added a single apiece for the Lions.
The Lions put runners on in each of the first six innings with the aid of five walks from DiDomenico.
After Ohio State plated one in the third, Penn State threatened in the fourth, putting runners on second and third. After slicing a long foul ball just outside the left field pole, Furuya sent a two-out single to right field and Renwick followed up with her second hit of the day, a single past the Buckeye shortstop. The two advanced on a passed ball but were stranded there as DiDomenico forced a grounder to second to end the frame.
In the fifth, Hutchinson laced a single through the left side and advanced to third when the ball snuck under the left fielder's glove and rolled to the wall. After Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.) was intentionally walked and stole second, Jones sent a full-pitch offering deep to center to allow Hutchinson to beat a throw home and tie the game at one apiece.
Ohio State reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth after Megan Coletta reached on a walk. With Brittany Mills running for Coletta, the Buckeyes used a pair of sacrifice bunts to move the runner to third before Taylor Watkins aired a fly ball to center to bring Mills home.
After Bell was intentionally walked with two outs in top of the seventh, Jones rattled off four foul balls before unleashing a bomb to left center on the 11th pitch of the at-bat, putting the Lions up, 3-2. This is the third game this season that Bell has been intentionally walked and driven in on a home run in the following at-bat, the last two homers from Jones.
The Buckeyes led off with doubles to open the seventh and the eighth to plate one run in each inning, including a sac fly from Caitlin Conrad to end the contest.