On Monday, the Ohio State softball team lost 4-2 in a tough battle with the Texas Longhorns, the #1-ranked team in the country. The Buckeyes had little time to rest as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish arrived in Columbus Tuesday for a non-conference contest.

OSU didn’t waste much time to get going at Buckeye Field, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, sophomore Jasmyn Burns doubled to knock in sophomore Sami Bewick, a transfer from Miami University. The next batter, senior Kaitlyn Farley, grounded out but drove in senior Kami Kortokrax, a Bishop Hartley grad.

Notre Dame responded in the second inning with a solo home run from Olivia Levitt. In the fourth, the Buckeyes retook a two-run edge when graduate Morgan Frye, a Berry College (Ga.) transfer, belted a homer to right center field. It was Frye’s fourth round-tripper of the season and her 13th RBI.

The Irish got the last run of the game off a pinch-hit RBI single from Paige Cowley in the fifth inning. Buckeye starter, junior Kennedy Kay, had been strong up to that point, allowing only one run on three hits until Cowley’s hit. Freshman Lorin Boutte came on in relief and went the rest of the way, tossing 2.1 shoutout innings on two hits.

Kay, now 5-2, picked up the win, while Boutte earned her first save of the season. Burns had two hits and now leads the Buckeyes with a .529 batting average and nine home runs. She is second on the squad with 27 RBIs. Senior Reagan Milliken leads OSU with 35 runs knocked in.

Next up for Ohio State (18-5-1) is a weekend three-game series at Buckeye Field against Big Ten foe Nebraska (19-6). The first game is set for Friday beginning at 6:00 p.m.