Falcons Head to Cleveland as 2018 Season Begins

Friday, February 9

Cleveland, OH

4:30 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

Niagara

Photo by: BGSU Marketing and Communications

February 08, 2018 | Softball

BGSU prepares for five games at the CSU Dome Tournament

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

• The Bowling Green State University softball team opens the 2018 season this weekend, heading to Cleveland for five games in the CSU Dome Tournament. The Falcons will face Niagara and the host school, Cleveland State, on Friday (Feb. 9); NU and Canisius on Saturday (Feb. 10); and Robert Morris on Sunday (Feb. 11). All games will be held inside the Krenzler Dome.

• The CSU Dome Tournament is the first of five tourneys in six weekends for the Falcons. BGSU will participate in events in Elon, N.C.; Lubbock, Texas; Memphis, Tenn.; and Nashville, Tenn., before Mid-American Conference play begins in late March.

BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
SCHEDULE: Includes links to live stats for this weekend)
PHOTO GALLERY: Tuesday's (Feb. 6) practice/scrimmage

THIS WEEKEND
• The Falcons are opening the season inside Cleveland State's dome for the fifth consecutive February. Four years ago, BGSU went 0-4 in the Vikings' tourney. The following year, playing three of the same four teams they met in 2014, the Brown and Orange went 3-1 at the CSU Dome Tournament.

• Two years ago, BGSU went 1-3 in the tourney, and last February, the Falcons went a perfect 4-0 on the season's opening weekend, outscoring opponents by a combined 24-2.

• The Falcons will meet Robert Morris in Cleveland for the fifth-straight season, and BG will be facing each of the other three teams (Canisius, Niagara and CSU) under the dome for the fourth time in the last five years.

CSU DOME TOURNAMENT
(links to live stats of BGSU's games are available here at BGSUFalcons.com)
Friday, Feb. 9
Niagara at Cleveland State, 2:00 p.m.
Bowling Green vs. Niagara, 4:30 p.m.
Bowling Green at Cleveland State, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 10
Niagara vs. Robert Morris, 10:00 a.m.
Robert Morris at Cleveland State, 12:30 p.m.
Bowling Green vs. Niagara, 3:00 p.m.
Bowling Green vs. Canisius, 5:30 p.m.
Canisius at Cleveland State, 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 11
Canisius vs. Robert Morris, 11:00 a.m.
Bowling Green vs. Robert Morris, 1:30 p.m.
Canisius at Cleveland State, 4:00 p.m.

NOTING THE FALCONS
• Head coach Sarah Willis enters her third year at the BGSU helm. She and her staff – assistant coaches Katie Reiff and Lauren Gambone and alumnae coordinator Kolleen Kopchak – welcome back 11 letterwinners, including five positional starters, from a year ago.

• Additionally, three of the four pitchers who saw action last season return, and that trio combined to pitch 93.9% of the team's innings a year ago.

• Willis and Company also welcome a total of 11 newcomers, including eight freshmen and three transfers, to the 2018 roster.

• A year ago, the Falcons finished with an overall record of 24-32 and a Mid-American Conference mark of 10-14. BGSU amassed much-improved statistics in multiple categories in 2017, including in the win column. The Falcons bested the previous season's overall and MAC victory totals, and BG nearly tripled the 2016 home win total (despite playing three fewer home games in '17).

• BGSU, picked to finish sixth (i.e., last) in the East Division last season, wound up as close to first place as the Falcons were to last place. BG finished seven games out of first place in the East, and the Brown and Orange ended the year seven games ahead of sixth-place Buffalo.

WHO'S GONE?
• The Falcons lost seven letterwinners, including five seniors, from a year ago.

• Three-fourths of last year's starting infield has graduated in Katee Hinkle, Chelsea Raker and Haley Schrock. Raker and Schrock each started all 56 games last spring, ranking fourth and fifth, respectively, on the team in batting. Raker hit .311 on the year and led BG in homers (six), walks (26), on-base pct. (.400) and slugging pct. (.491). Schrock, a four-year starter, batted .266 on the season and tied for second on the club with 23 walks. She also had a school-record seven sacrifice flies.

• While Raker and Schrock held down the corner infielder positions, Hinkle made 45 starts at second base last year. Sami Parave started 35 games in 2017, including 33 of the last 34 contests. Parave held down the starting left-field job for the final 17 games of the year.

• BGSU's fifth player recognized on last year's Senior Day, Briana Combs, went 1-3 with a 6.46 earned-run average. She made eight appearances in the circle before suffering an injury to her pitching hand, and then made seven pinch-running appearances over the team's final nine games of the year.

WHO'S BACK?
• The Falcons' return 11 letterwinners, including the top-three hitters from a year ago. Sophomore OF Kendyl Wheeler hit a team-leading .328 in her initial collegiate campaign, while redshirt senior SS Aspen Searle batted .324 last spring. Wheeler, despite missing the final 10 games of the season due to injury, led the team with three triples, and finished third on the club in stolen bases (five) and fourth in total bases (54).

• Searle paced the Brown and Orange in hits (58), doubles (14), total bases (87) and slugging percentage (.486), and she tied for the team lead in runs batted in, with 35. Searle was second on the Falcons in homers (five) and runs scored (25) and third in on-base percentage (.384).

• Junior OF Alex Sorgi batted .313 last spring. She led the Falcons in runs scored (39) and stolen bases (17), and she was second on the team in hits (57) and on-base pct. (.393). Sorgi tied for second on the club in walks (23) and finished third in total bases (61).

• Junior OF Hannah Giammarino and senior C Laine Simmons hit .250 and .238, respectively. Giammarino started 47 games and finished second on the Falcons in stolen bases, and was a perfect 8-for-8 in steal attempts in 2017. Simmons made 40 starts behind the dish, and had six doubles on the year to rank fourth on the club.

• In the circle, junior Meredith Miller is back after going 13-10 with a 2.90 ERA. In addition to wins and ERA, Miller led the Falcon pitchers in appearances (30), games started (22 - tied for team lead), innings pitched (157), strikeouts (118), complete games (16) and shutouts (four). Classmate Brooke Parker had seven wins and won four of her last eight decisions. She had a deceiving record of 7-15 on the year, with an ERA of 3.10. Parker appeared in 29 games, with 13 complete games in her 22 starts, and she had 59 strikeouts and a save.

• Another junior, Kiley Sosby, was 3-4 with a 4.54 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings. Sosby allowed opponents to hit just .197 against her.

• The group of returning letterwinners also includes senior Alivia Forshey and sophomores Taylor Blevins and Logan Everett.

• BGSU returnees combined for 65.7 percent of the team's runs scored in 2017, along with 63.0% of the Falcons' hits and, as mentioned, 93.9% of the program's innings pitched in 2017.

WHAT'S NEW?
• The Falcons' 11 returning letterwinners are joined by 11 newcomers. The latter group includes three transfers. Juniors Kali Holcomb and Kaylee Parker came to BG from Angelina (Texas) College, while classmate Kellie Natham joined the Falcons after spending two years at Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.

• BGSU's eight freshmen include Sammy Dees, Madison French, Sarah Gonzalez, Payton Hamm, Natalie Herder, Olivia Riener, Kinzi Sanders and Nikki Sorgi.

ASPEN MOVING TOWARD THE SUMMIT: SEARLE RECORD WATCH
• Fifth-year senior Aspen Searle has added her name to the BGSU record book in many, many categories. Searle enters the 2018 season tied for 10th in BG history with 176 career hits. She is sixth on the school lists for homers (19), RBI (93), batting average (.321) and slugging pct. (502), and she is tied for ninth in runs (92), 10th in total bases (275) and deadlocked for 10th in doubles (34).

A QUICK LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS
• All four BGSU opponents, like the Falcons, begin the 2018 season this weekend.

• Niagara returns 16 players from last year's team that went 19-26 overall and 10-10 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Head coach Larry Puzan's Purple Eagles have been predicted to finish ninth in the MAAC in the preseason coaches poll.

• Cleveland State finished the 2017 season with an overall record of 8-44 and a Horizon League mark of 4-19. Head coach Becky Norris and the Vikings return 12 letterwinners, including eight starters, from a year ago.

• Canisius finished with a 21-32 record a year ago, and the Golden Griffins went 9-11 in MAAC play. Coach Kim Griffin's team was picked to finish seventh in the MAAC this year, while junior designated player Lauren Castro was named to the preseason all-conference team after hitting .355 with 11 homers and 50 RBI last season.

• Robert Morris finished with a 19-33 overall record last season, and the Colonials went 9-7 in Northeast Conference play. Head coach Craig Coleman welcomes back 15 players from last year's club, including Abrielle McCartney, who hit .324 en route to all-league first-team honors in 2017.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Niagara, 2-1, in the all-time series between the teams, with all three meetings coming in Cleveland. Three years ago, the Falcons picked up a 9-1 win in the season opener (Feb. 7, 2015). The next year, the Purple Eagles captured a 4-1 decision on opening day (Feb. 13, 2016), but the Brown and Orange downed NU by an 8-1 score on the first day of the '17 season (Feb. 11, 2017).

• BGSU leads Cleveland State, 20-8, in that series, and the Falcons' 7-1 win in last year's season opener (Feb. 11, 2017) snapped the Vikings' first-ever two-game series win streak. The teams met at least once in every year from 1997 to 2004, then went a decade without facing off.

• BGSU is tied with Canisius, 2-2, in that series, and three of the four meetings have come in Cleveland. Three years ago, the Falcons scored 10 runs in the first inning en route to a 16-1, five-inning win (Feb. 8, 2015). Last year, BG captured another run-rule victory, 8-0, in Cleveland (Feb. 12, 2017), but the Golden Griffins topped the Brown and Orange, 6-4, at the First Pitch Classic in Charlotte, N.C., just five days later.

• The Falcons hold a 5-2 series lead over Robert Morris. All seven meetings have come at neutral sites, including the last four in Cleveland. BGSU has won the last three matchups, including a 7-1 win under the dome two years ago (Feb. 14, 2016) and a 1-0 victory last season (Feb. 12, 2017).

ON OUR WAY BACK
• BGSU amassed much-improved statistics in multiple categories in 2017, including in the win column. The Falcons bested last season's overall and MAC victory totals, and BG nearly tripled last year's home win total. The latter feat is even more impressive given the fact BG played three fewer games at Meserve Field last year than the previous year.

• BGSU fell just shy of qualifying for the MAC Tournament. After finishing 12th overall in the final 2016 MAC standings, however, and after being picked to finish sixth (i.e., last) in the East Division in the 2017 coaches' poll, the Falcons were in the race for a MAC Tournament berth until the final day of the regular season.

• BGSU won six more games in 2017 than in '16, and the team's MAC win total was four victories higher than the previous year.

• BGSU wrapped up the home portion of the schedule with an 8-3 record. Falcon pitchers threw 10 complete games, including four shutouts, in the 11 games at Meserve Field last spring.
WELL THEN, THIS WOULD BE MORE, WOULDN'T IT?
Year   Overall   MAC   Home
2016   18-36     6-17   3-11
2017   24-32 10-14   8- 3

COMING UP...
• Following this weekend's games in Cleveland, the Falcons will head to Elon, N.C., for five games in the Elon Softball Classic next Friday through Sunday (Feb. 16-18). BGSU will face Elon twice, and North Texas, Rhode Island and Mount St. Mary's (Md.) once each in the three-day tourney.

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