Ohio State softball beats No. 8 Kentucky

In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Ohio State softball team is having a fairly good start to the 2022 campaign. After spending its first 22 games in the warmth of the American southeast, most of it in sunny Florida, the Buckeyes are now back home in the emerging warmth of the north.

It was a successful start to the season with some pretty impressive wins against the likes of North Carolina and USF, so much so that Ohio State has found itself in the top 25.

The Buckeyes may have gotten their best win of the season on Tuesday. OSU beat a top ten Kentucky team 3-0 on the road to add to its impressive start, and it all started off the bat of junior Sam Hakenbracht once again. She got Ohio State on the board early in the first inning when she hit her eighth home run in the last ten games.

Who knew that would be all the scoring OSU would need on the evening at the time, but thanks to the exploits of Lexie Handley, it was. OSU added two more runs on the long ball when Melina Wilkinson connected with a runner on in the top of the second inning to put the Buckeyes up 3-0.

From there it was all about defense and pitching with a focus on what Handley did in the circle. She was simply masterful, allowing just five hits and tossing a shutout to a Kentucky team that has been able to pile up runs so far in 2022. She struck out 11 hitters and didn’t allow one single walk in the game. The Wildcats had a couple of scoring opportunities early and late in the game, but both times Handley was able to make the pitches to strike out the last hitter of the inning.

With the win, Ohio State improves to 21-6 on the season, while Kentucky drops to 22-8. The Buckeyes will next take on Michigan State in East Lansing this coming weekend.