COLUMBUS, Ohio – It's postseason time for the Ohio State softball team, and it will enter this week's Big Ten Tournament with momentum that includes victories in 11 of its last 13 games. The sixth-seeded Buckeyes face 11th-seeded Wisconsin on Wednesday night at approximately 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) in the opening round at Bob Pearl Softball Field on the campus of the University of Iowa.
A victory for the Buckeyes on Wednesday night would set up a quarterfinal game against third-seeded Rutgers on Friday night. Two semifinal contests will be contested on Friday with the championship game slated to take place Saturday.
How the Follow Along
All 11 games will be televised live on BTN. Lisa Byington and Jennie Ritter will call Ohio State's opening round game, and they'll also be in the booth for two quarterfinal games on Thursday, two semifinals on Friday and the championship game on Saturday.
A link to live stats can be found on the schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com. In-game updates will be posted on X (@OhioStateSB).
The Basics
Ohio State vs. Wisconsin // Wednesday, May 8 // 8 p.m. ET // Bob Pearl Softball Field; Iowa City, Iowa
Watch Live: BTN // Live Stats // Ohio State Schedule/Results // Wisconsin Schedule/Results
Briefly on the Buckeyes
- Last weekend's series win at Michigan improved Ohio State's record to 31-19 on the season and 12-11 in conference play.
- Overall, the Buckeyes have won 11 of their last 13 games with 10 of those 12 wins coming against Big Ten opponents.
- Ohio State finished in a three-way tie for sixth place in the final regular season standings and earned the sixth seed based on its doubleheader sweep of Penn State on April 16.
- The Buckeyes also collected three wins (in six games) against the teams that finished first and second, respectively, in the final standings.
- Ohio State's offense, which has the conference's fourth-best overall batting average, was fueled by a Big Ten-best 65 home runs. Entering the tournament, four players have nine or more home runs.
- Kami Kortokrax is the team leader with 12 long balls, but senior Kirsten Eppele isn't far behind with 11. She had three homers in the final two games of the Michigan series and drove in a team-high five runs.
- Five everyday starters bat .300 or better, led by senior Tegan Cortelletti (.397). McKenzie Bump (.336), Taylor Heckman (.333), Kortokrax (.327) and Kaitlyn Farley (.304) are also part of that group.
- In the circle, Allison Smith enters the tournament coming off a complete game two-hitter in Sunday's 2-1 series-clinching win over Michigan. She struck out five, including the final batter of the game with two Wolverines in scoring position.
- Sophom*ore Lexi Paulsen tossed a complete game shutout in Saturday's win at Michigan. Her 45.0 innings are third-most on the team, behind Emily Ruck (81.0) and Smith (153.1).
Scouting Wisconsin
- The Badgers are 19-30 this season and finished 8-15 in Big Ten play after dropping three games at home to Maryland last weekend.
- The weekend prior, however, Wisconsin won the final two games to take a series at Indiana. The Badgers also split a midweek doubleheader at Minnesota the week prior.
- Hilary Blomberg led the team with a .352 batting average in 23 Big Ten games that included four home runs and 21 RBI.
- Pitcher Tessa Magnanimo tossed a team-high 91.1 innings in conference play and picked up six of the team's eight wins. She had a 3.45 earned run average and .293 batting average against.
Previously This Season vs. Wisconsin
- Ohio State and Wisconsin played three times previously this season April 12-14 in Madison. The Badgers won the first two games, 8-4 and 10-5 respectively, while the Buckeyes won the series finale, 9-5.
- Ohio State's win in the series finale on April 13 was the start of their current stretch of 11 wins in the last 13 games.
Big Ten Tournament History
- Ohio State has one Big Ten Tournament title to its credit in program history, which came in 2007. The last time it made it to the Big Ten Tournament championship game was 2017.
- The last time Ohio State was the No. 6 seed was 2022 when it won an opening round game vs. Purdue, upset No. 3 Illinois in the quarterfinals and then dropped a 2-1 decision to the eventual tournament champions, Nebraska, in the semifinals.
Ohio State as of Late
- In its two wins last weekend at Michigan, pitchers Allison Smith and Lexi Paulsen combined to toss 14.0 innings while allowing just one run and five hits. Paulsen had a three-hit shutout on Saturday while Smith went 7.0 innings and allowed just two hits and one run on Sunday.
- In its current stretch of 11 wins over 13 games, Ohio State has hit 21 home runs. Eppele has a team-best five with 16 RBI and a .861 slugging percentage.
- Last weekend at Michigan, she had a 1.500 slugging percentage and homered in three consecutive at-bats (final at bat on Saturday and first two on Sunday).
- Smith's logged 48.1 innings in those 13 games and has a 1.74 earned run average and .224 batting average against. She's 6-0 in her last seven starts.
- McKenzie Bump enters the Big Ten Tournament needing just three hits for 100 in her career. Additionally, Sam Hackenbracht's next home run will tie Lilli Piper for third on Ohio State's all-time list. Her 155 career RBI is sixth-most, just three behind Courtney Pruner for fifth (158, 2006-10).
- Ohio State's 64 home runs are its most in a season since 2015 when it set the program single-season record with 75 homers. The Buckeyes rank 19th nationally averaging 1.30 home runs per game.
