Sunday, May 1
Bowling Green, Ohio
2:00 pm
Bowling Green State University
5
vs
4
Ball State
Falcons Sweep Ball State In 14-Inning Duel
May 01, 2011 | Softball
Boxscore - BGSU 5, Ball State 4; 14 Innings
Bowling Green, Ohio – Just one day after the Bowling Green softball team took 12 innings to defeat Mid-American Conference leader Ball State, the Falcons went 14 innings to complete a sweep of the front-running team, defeating the Cardinals 5-4 Sunday at Meserve Softball Field. It was the longest BGSU softball game since the team defeated Eastern Michigan 3-2 in 15 innings on May 3, 1996.
On Saturday, Bowling Green battled back from a 5-0 deficit to win on Erika Stratton's walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th. Sunday, Ball State was the team attempting the comeback. The Falcons led 4-0 after one inning but the Cardinals battled back to tie the game. This time though, Bowling Green won when Andrea Arney drove a ball deep to center field in the bottom of the 14th for a sacrifice fly that scored Hannah Fulk.
Zada Lines earned the much-deserve win in the pitching circle, entering in relief in the third inning and throwing 172 pitches over the final 12 innings. She gave up just six hits and no walks, striking out six while allowing only one earned run. Lines kept a potent Ball State offense off-balanced all day, giving up more than one hit in an inning just once all day.
While Lines limited Ball State by controlling the strike zone and not walking a batter, Ball State's three pitchers struggled with control. The Falcons drew 15 walks, tying for the 13th most in a game in NCAA Division I history. Paige Berger's five walks tied for the third most in NCAA Division I history, while Fulk drew four and Stratton, who homered three times on Saturday, earned three free passes. All those walks put runners on base throughout the day but without many hits, Bowling Green left 20 runners on base, tied for the seventh most in a game in NCAA Division I history.
By the time Ball State finished batting in the top of the fourth, the game was tied at 4-4 and it appeared that a team was going to need to score repeatedly to win. But from that point forward, the pitching staffs shut down the offenses.
Lindsay Arney led off the bottom of the sixth with a bunt single but the Falcons did not get another hit until the 12th. After Ball State tied the game with a run on two hits in the top of the fourth, the Cardinals did not get another until Alicia Barkley singled with one out in the top of the ninth.
Bowling Green had an excellent opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the 12th, loading the bases with two outs. But Andrea Arney grounded out to first base to end the threat. In the bottom of the 13th, the Falcons put two runners on base but again were not able to get the winning run.
Finally, in the bottom of the 14th, Fulk led off with a walk and moved to second on a passed ball. Rachel Proehl legged out a bunt single as Fulk moved to third and Ball State chose to intentionally walk Berger for the second time in the game. Andrea Arney stepped to the plate and drove a pitch to right center. While Lisa Rozanski made a strong diving catch, she was in no position to make a throw home and Fulk scored easily for the 5-4 win.
Proehl and Lindsay Arney both went 3-for-7 on the game for the Falcons and Katie Yoho also had multiple hits, going 2-for-7 with two RBI.
Yoho's two runs driven home came in the bottom of the first as Bowling Green jumped out quickly. Fulk singled down the left field line and Proehl singled up the middle. Berger walked to load the bases and Andrea Arney walked to score the first run. Yoho followed with a two-run single and Andrea Arney eventually came home for the fourth run on a wild pitch.
Ball State tied the game up by scoring a run in the second, two in the third, and another in the fourth. But from that point forward, pitching dominated the play.
Ball State falls to 32-19 overall and 12-5 in Mid-American Conference play with the loss. Bowling Green improves to 9-31 overall and 3-14 in league action. The Falcons will host Ohio in a doubleheader Friday at 1 p.m. and will conclude the season by hosting Akron Saturday and Sunday. The final game of that set will serve as Senior Day for the Falcons.
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