The Ohio State softball team dropped its first game of the year, but has since come back to win three-straight in the Carolina Classic. The most recent of those occurred Sunday in dramatic fashion. With the game tied at four runs apiece and all the way into the tenth inning, the Buckeyes got a sacrifice fly to center field to close out the tournament.
It sure looked like things would come easy early on against UNC Greensboro. Ohio State got out of the gate quickly, scoring three runs on four singles to go up 3-0 after one inning.
The Spartans got some help in the top of the next frame though when three runs were walked in, and just like that, the game was tied and tight at 3 runs apiece.
But that would be all the scoring for a very long time — all the way through regulation and into extra innings, and even into an international rules tiebreak scenario. Ohio State continued to get hits and threaten, but couldn’t get the big hit at the right time to plate a run.
Then, at the top of the tenth inning, a runner was placed on second base to promote a resolution in international tie-break rules, and UNC Greensboro capitalized by scoring one run on an error in the top of the inning.
That only set the stage for the dramatics.
With a runner already on second base, OSU quickly tied the game on a single and a bunt that brought the tying run home. After another single loaded the bases, the sac fly then sealed the deal.
The Buckeyes now sit at 3-1 and are next in action next weekend in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Raleigh, North Carolina. They will face NC State and Notre Dame in an alternating four-game set that goes from Friday through Sunday.
