Bowling Green State University Athletics
Softball Eyes East Division Title
May 01, 2000 | Softball
May. 1, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green softball team, having won two of three games in a showdown at Marshall last weekend, enters the final week of Mid-American Conference regular-season play looking to clinch an East Division title. The Falcons (27-14 overall, 12-5 MAC) will conclude an eight-game road trip with a three-game series at Ohio this weekend. The Falcons and Bobcats are scheduled to begin the series with a 3:00 p.m. single game Friday (May 5) at The Ohio Softball Field in Athens, Ohio.
The teams will conclude the MAC portion of the schedule with a Saturday (May 6) doubleheader. First pitch of the twinbill is set for 1:00 p.m.
BGSU, having clinched a berth in the six-team MAC Tournament for the third consecutive season, will play a non-league DH next week before beginning tourney play. The Falcons will close the regular season by hosting Cleveland State next Monday (May 8). Game one will begin at noon at the BGSU Softball Field.
The Falcons currently hold a two-game lead over Marshall in the East Division, with three games to play. The Thundering Herd will play host to Miami for three games this weekend.
THIS JUST IN...: Bowling Green has a magic number of one to tie for the Mid-American Conference East Division title ... entering the last week of MAC regular-season play, BGSU needs just one win, or a Marshall loss, to assure the Brown and Orange of a tie for the divisional crown ... additionally, the Falcons hold the tiebreaker over second-place Marshall after taking two of three games vs. the Thundering Herd last weekend ... BGSU has an outside shot to host the MAC Tournament.
GREAT RECORD: The Falcons are 27-14 overall, a record that matches the second-best start to a season in school history ... the 1992 team posted a 41-game start of 28-13, en route to a 37-16 overall record and a 19-10 MAC mark ... the 1993 squad also went 27-14 to start the season ... that Falcon team went 34-18 and won the MAC with a 26-9 record.
THE RECORDS: BGSU is 27-14 on the year, and 12-5 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 went 3-2, all on the road. The Brown and Orange split a Tuesday (April 25) twinbill vs. Miami, dropping the first game, 4-3, before rebounding for a 15-4, five-inning win in the nightcap. On Friday (April 28), the Falcons won a 2-1, 10-inning decision at Marshall. BG split a Saturday twinbill vs. the Thundering Herd, losing a 4-3 game before posting a 5-0 shutout in the rubber game of the series.
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 enters the week with an overall record of 14-25, and the Bobcats are 8-10 in MAC play. OU, fighting for a MAC Tournament berth, currently holds down fourth place in the East Division, two games behind Akron. The 'Cats will play a Wednesday (May 3) doubleheader at nationally-ranked Michigan before hosting the Falcons this weekend. Last week, Ohio won four of five games, sweeping a DH from then-division leading Marshall before taking two of three games from Kent. A year ago, the Bobcats finished 27-34 overall and 13-14 in conference play.
THE COACHES: BGSU's Leigh Ross-Shaw is in her second season as a collegiate head coach, with an overall record of 48-41 and a MAC mark of 27-16. 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's Roanna Brazier is 90-119 in her third year, both with the Bobcats and as a collegiate head coach.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead Ohio by a 37-28 margin in the all-time series, but the Bobcats won three of last season's four games, including both meetings in Athens. The Brown and Orange has lost the last three road games after winning the previous four contests at OU.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: Heading into the Miami contests, Bowling Green is averaging 4.29 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 41 176 4.29 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 Bowling Green (27-14)___12-5 Marshall (22-25)________10-7 Akron (24-18)____________9-7 Ohio (14-25)____________8-10 Kent (16-27)____________6-12 Miami (16-27)___________5-12West Division Northern Ill. (28-18)___16-3 Central Michigan (23-9)_13-3 Ball State (20-25)_______9-8 Eastern Mich. (19-23)___6-11 Toledo (11-23)__________5-12 Western Michigan (9-30)_4-13
MILOSEK IS MAC P-O-W: Sophomore Jessie Milosek was named the MAC Pitcher of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday (April 25) morning ... Milosek earned the honor after going 2-0 with a save and an ERA of 0.44 the week prior ... her two wins included her first collegiate no-hitter, vs. Kent on April 22 ... Milosek was the third Falcon in as many weeks to be honored by the MAC office ... two weeks prior, junior Angie Domschot had been named the league's Player of the Week, and junior Nikki Rouhana also earned that award the following week.
at Miami 4-4, BGSU 3-15: The Falcons split a twinbill with the RedHawks Tuesday (April 25) ... in the first game, a bases-loaded hit batter scored the go-ahead run for the RedHawks in the sixth inning ... junior Jen Domschot drove in two runs with a triple in that game ... she continued to hit the ball in the nightcap, as the Falcons exploded for a five-inning win ... Jen Domschot scored three runs and had four RBI in game two ... she had a two-run homer among her three hits ... the Falcons scored nine times in the third inning, on seven hits and four MU errors ... sophomore Andrea Genter was the beneficiary of the team's highest run total of the year ... all three BGSU seniors - Colleen Bates, Carmen Hitterdal and Erin Zwinck - had two hits.
BGSU 2, at Marshall 1: The Falcons gutted out a 10-inning win Friday (April 28) ... junior Nikki Rouhana hit a two-run homer, her first of the year, in the top of the 10th ... freshman McKenna Houle threw a complete-game six hitter for the win ... the Falcons had just four hits in the game.
at Marshall 4-0, BGSU 3-5: The Falcons split a Saturday (April 29) twinbill to remain two games ahead of the Herd in the standings ... in the first game, a seventh-inning run gave MU the win ... sophomore Renee Rosemeier drove in all three BGSU runs with a bases-loaded double in the third ... the Falcons had just two hits in the game ... in the nightcap, Andrea Genter threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just four hits ... freshman Libby Voshell broke a scoreless tie with a fifth-inning solo homer, and Colleen Bates had a two-run double in the seventh to break the game open ... Carmen Hitterdal and Erin Zwinck each had two hits, while Rosemeier had an RBI double.
FALCON FACTS: The Falcons still have a chance to earn the number-one seed and the right to host the MAC Tournament, but BGSU would need a great deal of help ... the Brown and Orange would need to sweep Ohio this weekend, while Northern Illinois went 0-3 and Central Michigan did no better than 1-3 ... NIU hosts Ball State for a three-game set this weekend, while CMU plays doubleheaders at Kent and Akron ... BGSU scored a season-high 15 runs in the second-game win over Miami Tuesday ... in the last three doubleheaders vs. Miami, the Falcons have totalled 12 runs in the first game and 38 in the second ... BGSU has played error-free softball in five of the last eight games ... the Falcons had only three error-free games in the first 33 contests of the season .. the Falcons have surpassed the team's victory total for all of last season ... BGSU is 27-14 after going 21-27 in 1999 ... in the latest NCAA statistical rankings, sophomore pitcher Jessie Milosek was 33rd in the country in earned-run average ... she had an ERA of 1.01 at the time (through games of April 23) ... Milosek's ERA now stands at 1.42 ... senior 3B/DP Erin Zwinck hit a team-best .375 last week, while junior OF Jen Domschot hit .333 with a .733 slugging percentage ... Zwinck is hitting a team-best .442 (23-of-52) in MAC games this season, with an on-base percentage of .500 and a .500 slugging pct. ... she is hitting a team-high .325 overall this year ... as a team, BGSU is batting .274 ... the BGSU ERA is 1.61, and opponents have hit just .233 against the Brown and Orange ... in MAC games, the Falcons are batting .292 ... the Falcons have hit 15 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 75 extra-base hits to the opponents' 36 ... the Brown and Orange has outscored opponents, 33-15, in the first inning this year ... in fact, BGSU has outscored foes by a 95-38 margin over the first three innings this season, including a whopping 42-11 advantage in the third frame ... in MAC games, the Falcons have outscored foes by a 53-12 margin in the first three innings, including a 29-4 edge in the third ... Zwinck leads the team with 12 multiple-hit games this spring, while junior Angie Domschot has 10 ... her twin sister, Jen Domschot, recorded the Falcons' first four-RBI game of the year at Miami Tuesday ... Colleen Bates paces the team with eight multi-RBI games, while Zwinck has six ... Bates is the school's career leader with 10 homers ... sophomore Andrea Genter had a 2-0 record and an ERA of 0.58 last week ... the Falcon pitching staff has recorded a total of 11 shutouts this season ... all four hurlers - sophomores Genter, Milosek and Rebekah Tipton and freshman McKenna Houle - have thrown at least one complete-game shutout.
FALCON QUICK FACTS
UP NEXT BGSU at Ohio Fri., May 5 * 3:00 p.m. Athens, OhioBGSU at Ohio (DH) Sat., May 6 * 1:00 p.m. Athens, Ohio
LAST WEEK Miami 4-4, at BGSU 3-15 Tues., April 25 * Oxford, Ohio (second game five innings)
BGSU 2, at Marshall 1 (10 innings) Fri., April 28 * Huntington, W. Va.
at Marshall 4-0, BGSU 3-5 Sat., April 29 * Huntington, W. Va.
2000 BGSU RECORDS Overall: 27-14 Mid-American Conference: 12-5
HEAD COACH - Leigh Ross-Shaw (Toledo, 1992) BGSU Record: 48-41 (second year) Overall: 48-41 (second year) MAC Record: 27-16
ASSISTANT COACH - Amy Kyler (Cleveland State, 1997)
BOWLING GREEN RECORDS All-Time: 483-539-8 (.473) (1978-present / 23rd season) MAC: 232-212-1 (.522) (1983-present / 18th season)
1999 BGSU FINAL RECORDS Overall: 21-27 Mid-American Conference: 15-11 Finish: Second in East Division
DOWN THE ROAD Cleveland State at BGSU (DH) Monday., May 8 * Noon BGSU Softball Field
MAC Tournament Thu.-Sat., May 11-13 * at site of #1 seed (team with top reg.-season record)
BGSU RESULTS LINE 419/372-7076, choose option 4 (same-day scores and brief summaries from all Falcon athletic teams)
