Senior second baseman to lead defending Big Ten champions

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The defending Big Ten champion Ohio State softball team has elected senior second baseman Brittany Vanderink as its captain for the 2008 season. One of six starters back from the Buckeyes’ squad that went 40-18 a year ago, Vanderink is a two-time All-Big Ten selection and ranks sixth in program history with a .338 career batting average.

A left-handed slapper, Vanderink is a career 46-for-49 base stealer and she ups her career batting average to .411 in Big Ten games. A sociology major, she is a native of Hiram, Ohio, and a graduate of Crestwood High School.

“This is a huge honor,” Vanderink said. “There are so many girls on the team that are good candidates for the captain position and I am truly excited that my teammates recognize me as a good candidate for that role.”

Vanderink is the second-consecutive solo captain for the Buckeyes, following Christina Douglas, who served as captain last season.

“Brittany had a big part in our run to the Big Ten championship last year and her leadership will be critical this season, especially with 13 freshmen and sophomores,” Linda Kalafatis, Ohio State head coach, said. “We expect Brittany to have an outstanding senior season and many of our recent captains have had their best seasons when they were a captain, which we would love to have happen again. Brittany will work to make sure our team is always thinking and prepared to be successful.”

The 2004 Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year, Vanderink is the OHSAA’s all-time leader in career batting average (.589) and led Crestwood High School to the 2003 Div. I State Championship. She has been named to the Big Ten All-Tournament each of the last two seasons and doubled and scored the game-winning run in the seventh inning last May against Penn State to give Ohio State the Big Ten title.

Vanderink, whose brother Alan plays football for Kent State, ranks fifth in Ohio State history with nine triples. Last season, she led the team in hits (64), at bats (192), and average with two outs (.333). She was second on team in stolen bases (16-for-17), multiple-hit games (17) and average with runners on base (.330). As a sophomore, Vanderink was named the team’s Offensive Player of the Year and the Most Improved Player when she led the team in batting average, both overall (.359) and in Big Ten games (.459) and also led the team in average with runners on base (.367) and with runners in scoring position (.391).

### OhioStateBuckeyes.com ###

Contact: Tim Stried, stried.3@osu.edu