Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Play Nine Of Next 10 Games At Home
April 10, 2000 | Softball
April 10, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
UP NEXT: The Bowling Green State University softball team, after playing just two of last week's eight scheduled games, is set to host Ohio State in non-conference action Tuesday (April 11). The Falcons and Buckeyes are scheduled to play a single game, beginning at 4:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field.
Thursday (April 13), the Brown and Orange will head to Dayton for a game against the UD Flyers. That contest is also set for a 4:00 p.m. start at Dayton's Stuart Field.
This weekend, the Falcons will take a 2-2 Mid-American Conference record into a three-game series against visiting Akron. The teams are scheduled to play a single game Friday (April 14) at 3:00 p.m. and a Saturday (April 15) doubleheader that begins at 1:00 p.m.
The Falcons, originally scheduled to play 13 games in a nine-day span which ended Saturday (April 8), played just seven of those contests.
TOP STORY: Bowling Green senior Colleen Bates hit her eighth career homer last week, tying the school record ... Bates' round-tripper in the second game at Detroit Wednesday (April 5) deadlocked her with Kathy Fisher (1983-86) and Sandy Krebs (1983-86) at the top of the all-time school list for homers ... in the first game of that UDM twinbill, Falcon junior Lynsey Ebel hit her seventh career homer ... she is one of three players in school history with seven homers.
GREAT START: The Falcons are 17-8 overall, the second-best start to a season in school history ... the best 25-game start in BG softball annals is 18-7, set in the 1993 season ... that squad went 34-18 and won the MAC with a 26-9 record ... the 1992 squad also went 17-8 to start the season ... that team finished 37-16 overall and 19-10 in league play.
THE RECORDS: BGSU is 17-8 on the year, and 2-2 in MAC action. The Falcons started the season at 0-3, but tied the school record by winning the next 10 games. Last week, BGSU played just two of the eight scheduled games, winning both. The Brown and Orange swept a Wednesday (April 5) twinbill at Detroit by scores of 5-3 and 8-6.
BGSU's road doubleheaders against Michigan (April 4), Toledo (April 7) and Ball State (April 8) all were postponed due to the rain. The UT and BSU doubleheaders will not be rescheduled, and no make-up date has been set as of yet for the U-M twinbill.
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 began the league slate with a 4-7 record before winning 11 of the final 15 MAC contests.
Ohio State checks into Tuesday's game with a 17-15 overall record, and the Buckeyes are 1-2 in Big Ten Conference play. Last weekend, OSU dropped a home game to Purdue before splitting a DH with Indiana. A year ago, the Buckeyes finished 20-32 overall and went 5-19 in conference play.
Dayton is 24-16 overall, and the Flyers are 4-0 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. UD heads into a Tuesday home twinbill vs. Miami having won seven consecutive games and 16 of the last 17 contests. Last weekend, the Flyers swept a Saturday DH at Temple, and saw Sunday's games at St. Joseph's cancelled due to weather. The 1999 Flyers went 20-36 overall and 8-8 in league play.
Akron is 14-11 overall, and the Zips are 2-1 in the MAC heading into Wednesday's non-conference twinbill vs. Cleveland State. UA has not played since April 1, having lost both of last weekend's scheduled doubleheaders due to the weather. A year ago, the Zips were 27-28 overall and finished third in the MAC's East Division with a 13-13 mark.
THE COACHES: BGSU's Leigh Ross-Shaw is in her second season as a collegiate head coach, with a record of 38-35. 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 hit a MAC-record .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 for the Carolina Diamonds of the Women's Pro Softball League for two years before joining the expansion Akron Racers for the 1999 campaign.
Ohio State's Linda Kalafatis is 90-101 in her fourth year in Columbus. A former head coach at Akron, she is 363-216-2 in her 11th season overall.
Dayton head coach Jodi Eickemeyer is 98-125-3 in her fifth year with the Flyers.
Deanna Parks, 105-79 in her fourth year in Akron, is 165-122 in her seventh year as a collegiate head coach.
THE SERIES: The Falcons trail Ohio State by a 15-9-2 count in the all-time series, but the Brown and Orange won the most recent meeting, a 2-0 decision on March 5 in Florida. In that game, which broke a six-game BG losing streak to the Buckeyes, sophomore Andrea Genter threw a complete-game one-hitter. The Falcons have not hosted OSU since the 1988 season.
BGSU is 17-1 against Dayton, but the teams have not met since the 1993 season. That year, the Falcons won 6-0 and 15-0 games at the BGSU Softball Field. BGSU has a 14-game winning streak vs. the Flyers dating to 1982.
The Falcons lead Akron by a 27-15-1 margin after taking three of last year's four meetings. After BG's 3-1 and 5-3 wins in the Rubber City last April 24, the teams split a DH in BG on May 8, with BG posting a 1-0 win, and the Zips rallying for a 4-0 victory which ended the regular season.
BLANKETY-BLANK: The Falcon pitching staff has recorded a total of nine shutouts in the season's first 25 games ... all four hurlers - sophomores Andrea Genter, Jessie Milosek and Rebekah Tipton and freshman McKenna Houle - have thrown at least one complete-game shutout this season.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Heading into the OSU contest, Bowling Green is averaging 4.12 runs per game this year ... the only team in school history to average more runs was the 1981 squad ... that year, BG averaged a whopping 5.25 runs per game, scoring 147 times in 28 outings ... the top-scoring Falcon teams are listed below, with the current team's total-to-date included:
Year GP Runs Avg. 1981 28 147 5.25 2000 25 103 4.12 1980 25 95 3.80 1988 59 210 3.56 1985 51 181 3.55 1992 53 185 3.49 1999 48 167 3.48 1993 52 174 3.35
2000 MAC STANDINGS:
East Division Team (Overall)_________MAC Akron (14-11)__________2-1 Marshall (14-19)_______2-1 Bowling Green (17-8)___2-2 Miami (12-18)__________1-3 Ohio (6-17)____________1-3 Kent (6-18)____________1-4West Division Northern Ill. (17-14)__6-0 Central Mich. (11-5)___3-0 Toledo (8-12)__________2-1 Eastern Mich. (13-14)__2-2 Western Mich. (5-17)___1-3 Ball State (10-17)_____0-3
BGSU 5-8, at Detroit 3-6: On Wednesday (April 5), BG swept a twinbill in the Motor City ... sophomore sophomore Jessie Milosek threw a seven-hitter in the opener, while junior Lynsey Ebel homered in the seventh ... BGSU had 12 hits, including three from junior Angie Domschot ... Ebel's seventh-inning homer, a solo shot, gave BG a 4-2 lead, and the Falcons scored another run when Carmen Hitterdal's two-out hit scored Morgan LaNicca ... in the nightcap, the Falcons scored eight times in the game's last three innings, and held off a spirited Titan rally ... the game was called after six innings due to darkness ... sophomore Rebekah Tipton got the win, while freshman McKenna Houle retired the only two batters she faced to pick up her first collegiate save ... senior Colleen Bates led off the fourth inning by crushing a line-drive homer to left, tying the game at 1-1 ... the Falcons scored another run that inning, then added four more on back-to-back two-run doubles by juniors Nikki Rouhana and Ebel ... those runs came after a two-out UDM error ... after Detroit strung together four straight hits off Andrea Genter in the fifth, BG got those runs back in the sixth ... freshman Crystal Wilson had a two-out, pinch-hit double to the base of the fence in left-center ... that hit plated two runs, which proved to be important when the Titans scored three times in the bottom of the inning ... but, Houle came on with the bases loaded and one out, and slammed the door ... she got a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat.
FALCON FACTS: The Falcons are 23-7 in the last 30 home non-conference games, dating to the beginning of the 1990 season, entering the OSU game ... Bowling Green plays nine of the next 10 games at the friendly confines of the BGSU Softball Field ... Friday's Akron contest begins an eight-game homestand for the Brown and Orange ... BGSU has completed regular-season play against the MAC's West Division ... the Falcons opened the league slate with home twinbills against Western Michigan and Northern Illinois, then saw last weekend's games vs. Toledo and Ball State cancelled due to the weather ... Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan do not appear on BG's 2000 MAC slate ... the Falcons have 16 MAC games remaining, including four against Miami and three vs. the other four East-Division schools ... junior 2B Angie Domschot went 5-for-8 last week, with three doubles ... she hit .625 with a slugging percentage of 1.000, while junior 3B/DP Lynsey Ebel hit .500 with a 1.167 slugging pct. ... seniors Colleen Bates and Carmen Hitterdal each hit .429 ... the Falcons have hit nine homers to date this season, the second-highest total in school history ... last year's team set the record with 19 round-trippers ... BG has pounded out a total of 53 extra-base hits to the opponents' 16 ... only three of last weekend's 24 scheduled MAC games were played, due to the weather.
FALCON QUICK FACTS
UP NEXT BGSU vs. Ohio State Tues., April 11 * 4:00 p.m. BGSU Softball FieldBGSU at Dayton Thurs., April 13 * 4:00 p.m. Dayton, Ohio
BGSU vs. Akron Fri., April 14 * 3:00 p.m. BGSU Softball Field
BGSU vs. Akron (DH) Sat., April 15 * 1:00 p.m. BGSU Softball Field
LAST WEEK BGSU 5-8, at Detroit 3-6 Wed., Apr. 5 * Detroit, Mich. second game six innings all other BGSU games postponed
2000 BGSU RECORDS Overall: 17-8 Mid-American Conference: 2-2
HEAD COACH - Leigh Ross-Shaw (Toledo, 1992) BGSU Record: 38-35 (second year) Overall: 38-35 (second year)
ASSISTANT COACH - Amy Kyler (Cleveland State, 1997)
BOWLING GREEN RECORDS All-Time: 473-533-8 (.470) (1978-present / 23rd season) MAC: 222-209-1 (.515) (1983-present / 18th season)
1999 BGSU FINAL RECORDS Overall: 21-27 Mid-American Conference: 15-11 Finish: Second in East Division
BGSU RESULTS LINE 419/372-7076, choose option 4 (same-day scores and brief summaries from all Falcon athletic teams)
