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Ohio State

Kirin Kumar reflects on first homestand as the Buckeyes head coach: 'There's nothing like playing at home'

2iQTwToy.jpg-mediumby: Mick Walker03/13/25mickdwalker
Kirin Kumar by Mick Walker -- Lettermen Row --
Kirin Kumar (Mick Walker/Lettermen Row)

COLUMBUS – Ohio State softball opened the season with 18 road or neutral site games before returning to Buckeye field last Friday for the a six-game homestand. The Buckeyes played four games in the Ohio State Tournament then hosted No. 1 Texas on Monday afternoon and a tough Notre Dame team on Tuesday.

Ohio State went 5-1 in those six games with the lone loss coming to the top-ranked Longhorns. Regardless of the results, first-year head coach Kirin Kumar could tell her team was happy to be home after playing so many away games to start the season.

“It’s a big deal for them to get to sleep in their own bed and have their own routine when they’re at home and that hasn’t happened all year,” Kumar told Lettermen Row. “So finally getting to do it and doing it five days in a row is a big deal and then Monday’s crowd, Buckeye Nation came out. It was a great game with that.

“Playing in front of your home crowd, showing what everybody else has gotten to see but for them to get to see it live is huge. There’s nothing like playing at home.”

As for the loss to Texas, Kumar felt that it was important for the Buckeyes to play such a highly-ranked team early in the season so they could see where stack up against the best teams in the country.

“I mean, so we want to get where they’re at, right? They’re national runner-ups,” Kumar said. “And so we have to play those teams. So playing them at home is even better to see. Everyone can see where we match up, right? And then Monday, we did a very good job. It wasn’t a clean game completely. I think it should have been 2-2 going into the seventh. We made a couple errors but it was a beautiful day.The crowd was great. And playing the number one team at home, not a lot of people get to do that unless it’s in conference, and that was a non-conference game.”

Ohio State will face another top-25 team this weekend. The Buckeyes open Big Ten play with a three game series against No. 24 Nebraska at Buckeye Field.

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