The Ohio State softball team has a lot of momentum going, but that was halted a bit on Friday night in a weekend series opener 6-3 loss against Big Ten foe Purdue.
Buckeye pitcher Allison Smith started out strong in the circle, striking out six batters while not surrendering a run through three innings, but OSU had a problem getting anything going on offense itself out of the gate. Kami Kortokrax cracked a three-run homer to break the seal on the scoreboard and put Ohio State up 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning, and the Buckeyes were seemingly on their way to another victory.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
Purdue climbed back to one run down with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning and then hit a two-out grand slam to plate four more and grab a three-run lead, 6-3 in the top of the fifth inning.
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From there, both offenses couldn’t get anything going, even despite having multiple chances with runners on base. No other runners crossed the plate and the Buckeyes dropped the opener of a three-game weekend set to the Boilermakers.
FINAL: Purdue takes today's series opener, 6-3.
Back at it tomorrow at Buckeye Field beginning at 2 p.m.#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Y4uDiCzOeZ
— Ohio State Softball (@OhioStateSB) April 21, 2023
With the loss, Ohio State drops to 28-15 overall, and 8-7 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes are back at it against Purdue at Buckeye Field on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
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