Bowling Green State University Athletics
Softball Travels To Wright State Before Opening MAC Play
March 27, 2000 | Softball
March 27, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
UP NEXT: The Bowling Green State University softball team, after going 2-2 in Virginia last weekend, is scheduled to play seven games this week, including a pair of Mid-American Conference doubleheaders this weekend. First, the Falcons (12-6) will open the week with a Tuesday (March 28) twinbill at Wright State. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in Dayton, Ohio.
Friday (March 31), the Brown and Orange will commence MAC action with a double-dip vs. Western Michigan. The Falcons and Broncos will meet in a 2:00 p.m. start at the BGSU Softball Field. The following day (April 1), BGSU will host Northern Illinois in a 1:00 p.m. twinbill.
On Sunday (April 2), the Brown and Orange will play a single game at Oakland University. The game will begin at 4:00 p.m. in Rochester, Mich.
GREAT START: The Falcons are 12-6 overall, the second-best start to a season in school history ... the best 18-game start in BG softball annals was a 13-5 mark in the 1992 season ... that 1992 squad went 37-16 overall and 19-10 in league play.
THE RECORDS: BGSU is off to the second-best start in school history at 12-6 overall. The Falcons started the season at 0-3, but tied the school record by winning the next 10 games. Last weekend, BGSU split four games at the Hoo's Who Tournament, hosted by the University of Virginia. The Falcons posted a pair of Friday (March 24) shutouts, beating Pittsburgh, 5-0, and host Virginia by a 3-0 score.
On Saturday (March 25), BG lost to Rutgers (7-1) and Penn State (8-0).
The Falcons ended the 1999 season with a 21-27 record. BGSU qualified for the MAC Tournament for the second consecutive year.
The '99 Falcons finished MAC action with a 15-11 league mark, good for second place in the East Division. BG, after beginning the league slate with a 4-7 record, won 11 of the final 15 MAC contests.
Wright State is now 19-9, and the Raiders have won 10 of the last 11 games. The last 10 games were played at the Rebel Games in Orlando, Fla. Last year, WSU went 33-20 overall and 5-5 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference.
Western Michigan enters the week with a 4-11 record, after dropping four games at a tournament at Indiana State last weekend. WMU will host Loyola (Ill.) Wednesday before coming to BGSU. Last year, Western went 17-29, including a 9-17 MAC mark.
Northern Illinois is 12-11 heading into the week. The Huskies, last year's MAC regular-season champions with a 22-4 record (35-19 overall), beat WMU before losing to Loyola (Ill.) Sunday at the Indiana State Ty. NIU faces Wisconsin and Miami this week before meeting BG.
Oakland is 8-13 entering the week, and the Golden Grizzlies play twinbills vs. Grand Valley State, Central Michigan and Western Illinois (two DHs) before hosting BG. OU is sponsoring softball for the first time in 2000, and competes in the Mid-Continent Conference.
THE COACHES: BGSU's Leigh Ross-Shaw is in her second season as a collegiate head coach. She assumed the top job after two years as BG's assistant coach. The Ottawa Lake, Mich., native came to the Falcon program in 1996 after serving as the head coach at Notre Dame Academy for four seasons. Ross-Shaw, a 1992 graduate of the University of Toledo, still holds numerous UT and MAC records, and remains the all-time conference leader in batting average (.398), at-bats and hits. She set a MAC record by hitting .447 as a senior en route to All-America Second-Team honors.
Amy Kyler is in her second season as Ross-Shaw's assistant. Kyler, quite possibly the top pitcher in Cleveland State history, graduated from CSU in 1997. She played professionally with the Carolina Diamonds of the Women's Pro Softball League for two years before joining the expansion Akron Racers for the 1999 campaign. Bobbie Molyneux is in her first year as a volunteer assistant with the Falcon softball squad.
Wright State's Sheila Nahrgang is in her eighth year as a head coach, all with the Raiders, and is 146-194-3.
Western Michigan's Kim Worden is in her 13th year, all in Kalamazoo, and has a career record of 311-334.
Northern Illinois head coach Donna Martin is 181-117-1 in her sixth year, all in DeKalb.
Oakland's Steve Ogg is 8-13 in his first year.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead the all-time series with Wright State by an 8-0 margin, with all of the meetings coming from 1990 to 1993. The last four games were played in Dayton, including BG's 4-0 and 3-1 wins in 1993.
Western Michigan leads BGSU, 31-17, and the teams split the last DH, a pair of 1998 meetings in Kalamazoo. WMU has won eight of the last nine meetings, including a four-game sweep in BG in 1997.
The Falcons have a 6-5 advantage in the series vs. Northern Illinois, and BGSU took two of the three 1998 meetings. BGSU did not meet either WMU or NIU in 1999. The Brown and Orange captured a 3-0 game from NIU to open the '98 MAC Tourney in the teams' last game.
The Falcons have never met Oakland in softball.
FALCON FACTS: The Falcons went 2-2 at the University of Virginia's Hoo's Who Tournament last weekend ... BGSU head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw captured a win against her college coach, as the Falcons beat host UVa Friday (March 24) ... Cheryl Sprangel, the Virginia head coach, spent 13 years as the coach at Toledo ... Ross-Shaw earned four letters under Sprangel for the Rockets, helping the team to a MAC title and the College World Series in 1989 ... twins Angie Domschot and Jenny Domschot, both juniors, were named to the all-tournament team at Virginia ... Angie had a pair of triples and a team-best three RBI on the weekend, and had a slugging percentage of .500 ... Jenny hit a team-best .375 ... she also had a pair of triples, and led the Falcons with three walks, an on-base pct. of .545 and an .875 slugging pct. ... the Falcon pitching staff has recorded a total of seven shutouts in the season's first 18 games ... all four hurlers - sophomores Andrea Genter, Jessie Milosek and Rebekah Tipton and freshman McKenna Houle - have thrown at least one complete-game shutout.
BGSU 5, Pittsburgh 0: On Friday (March 24), BG opened tournament play with a shutout win ... freshman McKenna Houle fired a complete-game three-hitter ... the contest marked the first complete-game effort of Houle's brief collegiate career ... BG got on the board with a pair of first-inning runs ... junior Angie Domschot led off the game with a triple, her first of two three-baggers in the contest ... one out later, she scored on senior Erin Zwinck's single ... with two outs, junior Jenny Domschot tripled to score Zwinck ... the Falcons scored three times in the fourth inning, on singles by Nikki Rouhana and Holly Frantz and Angie Domschot's second triple ... Houle faced four batters over the minimum, and did not allow a runner past second base.
BGSU 3, at Virginia 0: The Falcons scored three fifth-inning runs to beat the host Cavaliers Friday ... sophomore Jessie Milosek threw a complete-game five-hitter ... junior Lynsey Ebel got the Falcons' fifth inning started with a single ... freshman Libby Voshell, who had two hits in the game, doubled to plate pinch-runner Morgan LaNicca ... after a sacrifice bunt, Angie Domschot singled to score another pinch-runner, Jessica Jenkins ... with two outs, Carmen Hitterdal, who had reached on a fielder's choice, scored when Colleen Bates reached on a UVa error ... Milosek improved to 4-1 on the season, walking just one batter and fanning three.
Rutgers 7, BGSU 1: The Falcons could manage just two hits in a Saturday (March 25) loss to the Scarlet Knights ... RU scored six unearned runs in the game, benefitting from five Falcon errorts ... after three second-inning Rutgers runs (just one earned) off starter and loser McKenna Houle, BG scored its only run in the third frame ... Renee Rosemeier singled and took second on a wild pitch ... sophomore Natalie Phillips bunted her classmate to third base, and Rosemeier scored on an Angie Domschot grounder ... RU scored four more unearned runs to seal the deal ... Rebekah Tipton and Jessie Milosek also pitched for BG ... other than Rosemeier's hit, BG's only safety was a double by freshman Liz Tuza in the seventh inning.
Penn State 8, BGSU 0 (5 innings): For the second straight game, the Falcons had just two hits ... the Nittany Lions scored four unearned runs as BG made three errors in the game ... sophomore Andrea Genter took the loss, surrendering six runs (only two earned) in two-and-two-thirds innings ... BG's only hits were a first-inning single by junior Jenny Domschot and an infield single by senior Carmen Hitterdal in the third ... PSU scored once in the first, three times in the second and twice more in the third ... the Lions scored twice in the fifth to end the contest due to the run rule.
FALCON QUICK FACTS
UP NEXT BGSU at Wright State (DH) Tues., March 28 * 2:30 p.m. Dayton, OhioBGSU vs. Western Michigan (DH) Fri., March 31 * 2:00 p.m. BGSU Softball Field
BGSU vs. Northern Illinois (DH) Sat., April 1 * 1:00 p.m. BGSU Softball Field
BGSU at Oakland Sun., April 2 * 4:00 p.m. Rochester, Michigan
LAST WEEK Hoo's Who Tourney * March 24-25 BGSU 5, Pittsburgh 0 BGSU 3, at Virginia 0 Rutgers 7, BGSU 1 Penn State 8, BGSU 0 (5) all games played in Charlottesville, Va.
2000 BGSU RECORDS Overall: 12-6 Mid-American Conference: 0-0
1999 BGSU FINAL RECORDS Overall: 21-27 Mid-American Conference: 15-11 Finish: Second in East Division
HEAD COACH - Leigh Ross-Shaw (Toledo, 1992) BGSU Record: 33-33 (second year) Overall: 33-33 (second year)
BOWLING GREEN RECORDS All-Time: 468-531-8 (.469) (1978-present / 23rd season) MAC: 220-207-1 (.515) (1983-present / 18th season)
BGSU RESULTS LINE 419/372-7076, choose option 4 (same-day scores and brief summaries from all Falcon athletic teams)
