LEESBURG, Fla. – The longest game in Ohio State softball history – 15 innings – ended in the Buckeyes’ favor on Thursday afternoon. And that was just the opening act of the day.

Ohio State (4-4) and Wisconsin (4-4) played 21 innings of softball and when it was finished, the Buckeyes and Badgers had split a doubleheader that started with a 15-inning marathon that went to the Buckeyes, 7-5. Wisconsin took the second game in six innings, 10-1.

Unlock this video, live events, and more with a subscription!

Sign Up

Already a subscriber? Log In

In the game one win, the story was the pitchers. Ohio State’s Payton Buresch tossed 10.0 innings – 126 pitches in all – and surrendered just two hits while not allowing an earned run. Her counterpart for Wisconsin, Maddie Schwartz, went 13.2 innings with 11 strikeouts while scattering six hits.

Buresch did allow a Wisconsin hit until the bottom of the ninth inning the Badgers didn’t even has a base runner until the fifth inning. She lowered her ERA this season to 0.62 with a .156 batting average against.

Along with Buresch’s performance in the circle, the Buckeyes also got five relief innings out of freshman Allison Smith, who picked up her second win of the season in the process. Smith took over in the 11th inning and struck out seven in her 99-pitch stint.

The game’s first run was scored in the top of the 10th Niki Carver’s sacrifice fly scored Mariah Rodriguez, who had been placed on second to start the half inning due to international tiebreaker rules and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Wisconsin came back in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI groundout.

Each then traded runs in the 11th inning with Ohio State’s coming as pinch hitter Kaitlyn Coffman drove in Ashley Prange. Wisconsin countered with an RBI single in the bottom half, but a double play turned by the Scarlet and Gray – one of three on the game – kept the score tied at 2-all.

The Buckeyes appeared to create some breathing room in the top of the 14th when they put three runs on the scoreboard. Coffman drove in a run to give Ohio State a 3-2 lead and then Tegan Cortelletti added an RBI on an infield single. Meggie Otte scored the third run when she came home on a wild pitch.

Wisconsin wouldn’t go quietly, however, getting a one-run single and two-run home run to tie the score at 5-5 in the bottom of the 14th. In this back and forth contest, though, the Buckeyes punched back. In the top of the 15th, Prange’s sacrifice bunt plated a run to make it 6-5 and Avery Clark gave Ohio State an insurance run with an RBI single through the left side to score Niki Carver.

Fittingly, a double play on defense helped shut the door in the bottom of the 15th. After a leadoff walk put runners on first and second, Ally Miklesh lined into a 6-3 double play. The next batter, Sylvia Flarity, popped up to first base to end the game. The Buckeyes turned three double plays in the game and catcher Sam Hackenbracht threw out four runners on the base paths.

The second game of the doubleheader went to the Badgers, who broke the game open with seven runs in the top of the sixth inning to turn a 3-1 lead into a 10-1 advantage.

Four different pitchers saw action for Ohio State. Jessica Ross started and pitched two stints in the game, going a total of 3.2 innings and allowing one earned run. Allison Smith relieved Ross and pitched 0.1 innings, while Skylar Hayward went 1.2 innings and Emily Ruck 0.1 innings. Kaitlyn Coffman had a two-hit game at the plate, including a double in the second inning. Coffman was 2-for-2 on the game and had four hits over the two games on Thursday.

Ohio State and Wisconsin play the rubber game of their three-game series tomorrow at 11 p.m. First pitch is slated for 11 a.m.