Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
AKRON
Huge Zip Comeback Dooms Softball Falcons, 9-7
April 14, 2000 | Softball
April 14, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Akron scored nine unanswered runs to erase a 6-0 deficit, and the Zip softball team posted a 9-7 win over Bowling Green Friday (April 14). The Mid-American Conference game was held at the BGSU Softball Field.
The Falcons (17-11 overall, 2-3 MAC) scored six times in the first inning, and appeared to be on the way to a comfortable victory before the Akron (17-11, 3-1) uprising. In that first frame, BG got a pair of three-run, opposite-field home runs, by senior Colleen Bates and junior Lynsey Ebel.
For Bates, the homer was the ninth of her career, breaking the school record she shared with Sandy Krebs (1983-86) and Kathy Fisher (also 1983-86). Ebel's homer was the eighth in her two-plus years as a Falcon.
The Falcons scored three runs, and had two more runners on base, before the Zips could record an out in the first inning. Angie Domschot led off the game by taking third on an error by UA rightfielder Kerstin Sewell. Carmen Hitterdal reached on an infield hit, with Domschot holding at third, before Bates blasted her third round-tripper of the year to right-center off Akron starter Lisa Keenan. Jenny Domschot was hit by a pitch, and Erin Zwinck followed with a single. Both runners took an extra base on a throwing error, and Ebel stepped to the plate. She hit a three-run blast to almost the exact spot where Bates had homered just moments earlier, and the Falcons seemed to be on their way to victory.
Keenan was replaced by Sherell Watson, and the reliever allowed just two hits over the next five innings. But, BG starter Andrea Genter did not let the Zips get on the board in the first five frames of the contest, allowing just three hits during that time. That all changed in the sixth.
A walk and three consecutive singles gave the Zips two runs before Genter got an out. Then, UA's Angie Hill reached on an error to load the bases, and Leticia Gamboa, the ninth hitter in the Akron lineup, doubled to plate two teammates. Gamboa went 2-for-4 on the day with a pair of doubles.
Jessie Milosek replaced Genter in the circle after Gamboa's hit, and the next batter reached on an error, with a run scoring to cut the Falcon lead to 6-5. Then, with runners on first and third, Jamie Zwisler, the runner on first, got herself caught in a rundown. BG got Zwisler out, but Gamboa scored from third on the play to tie the game.
In the seventh inning, Akron batted around for the second straight frame. A Watson RBI double with one out gave the Zips the lead, and Sewell singled to score two more runs.
BGSU threatened in the bottom of the seventh. Hitterdal reached on her second infield hit of the afternoon, but Watson struck out the next two BG hitters. Hitterdal took second on an illegal pitch, then scored on an Erin Zwinck single. Kandice Machain pinch-ran for Zwinck, and moved to second when Nikki Rouhana walked. Ebel hit a ball that sent Sewell to the wall in right-center, but she caught it to end the threat and the game.
Watson picked up the win in relief, surrendering four hits in six innings. The two seventh-inning strikeouts were her only two of the game. At the plate, she went 2-for-2 with a double and the game-winning RBI.
Milosek took the loss, also in relief.
In addition to Hitterdal, Zwinck and Rouhana each had two hits. UA catcher Julie Villard was 3-for-4 as the Zips held an 11-9 edge in hits.
The two teams will return to the BGSU Softball Field for a Saturday (April 15) doubleheader. The twinbill, originally scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m., has been moved to a noontime start.
