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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
BALL STATE
Softball Rallies To Top BSU In 11
April 24, 2001 | Softball
April 24, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team scored a seventh-inning run to force extra innings, then got an 11th-inning marker on a passed ball, for a 5-4 win over Ball State University Tuesday (April 24). The game, the second half of a Mid-American Conference doubleheader, was held at the BGSU Softball Field.
The win enabled the Falcons to salvage a split of the twinbill. BGSU improves to 25-15 overall, and the Falcons remain in first place in the MAC's East Division with a 13-4 league record, a game-and-a-half ahead of 11-5 Kent State.
Ball State, in second place in the West Division, fell to 22-17 overall and 11-7 in the conference.
The Falcons and Cardinals, after combining for just three hits in the day's first game, combined for 27 in the nightcap. BGSU freshman Jody Johnson earned the win with eight innings of relief work.
After getting just one hit off BSU's Marcy Mobley in the first game, the Falcons broke through in the second inning of the nightcap. Mobley retired the side in order in the first, but junior Renee Rosemeier hit a one-out double to left-center in the second. She quickly came around to score when the next batter, senior Angie Domschot hit a double of her own to leftfield.
Senior Lynsey Ebel's sacrifice bunt advanced Domschot to third base, and she scored on sophomore Libby Voshell's RBI grounder to shortstop.
BGSU junior Andrea Genter started the game in the circle, and worked through two hitless innings. She got into a jam in the third, however, as the Cardinals loaded the bases on a walk and a pair of singles. With two outs, Kasey Angulo hit a ball back up the middle. Angie Domschot, the Falcon second baseman, ranged far to her right. She grabbed the ball with her glove hand behind second base, and in one motion flipped to shortstop Voshell to force Britni Clark and end the inning.
The Cardinals, however, broke through in the fourth, chasing Genter with three-straight hits to start the inning. Ali Orel singled, Ruth Hjelmeland doubled and Carrie Lively added a single to cut the BG lead to 2-1 and bring in BG reliever Johnson.
The Falcon freshman was greeted by Janice Campbell, who moved pinch-runner Kris Burdine to second with a sacrifice bunt. Hjelmeland was forced to hold at third. The next batter, Abby Willis, hit a two-run single to left-center to give the visitors the lead. Another Cardinal hit and a BG error loaded the bases with one out, before Johnson induced two consecutive batters to hit grounders that led to force plays at the plate.
The Falcons tied the game in the fifth. Senior Nikki Rouhana led off with a single to leftfield, and sophomore Kandice Machain bunted her to second. The Falcons had a season-high five sac bunts in the game, including two from Machain.
With one out, senior Jen Domschot walked, and Rosemeier singled to center. On the latter play, Rouhana came around to score when centerfielder Hjelmeland bobbled the ball.
The game remained tied at 3-3 until the seventh inning. Johnson retired the first two batters before Lively reached on a bad-hop single. Then, Campbell doubled to leftfield to plate Lively with the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Falcons tied the game with a hit and two BSU errors -- all on the same play. Mobley retired the leadoff hitter, bringing Jen Domschot to the plate. Domschot singled to centerfield, and kept going when the ball went through Hjelmeland's legs and rolled all the way to the wall. Domschot rounded second base and steamed toward third, and Hjelmeland's throw ticked off the third baseman's glove and into the BG dugout, sending Domschot home with the tying run.
Both teams had chances to break the tie in the next several innings. The Falcons got a leadoff walk by freshman Valerie Tipton in the eighth, and BG had two runners on with none out after a BSU error allowed pinch-runner Liz Tuza to take second on a bunt by Holly Frantz. Then, Rouhana ripped a ball that was grabbed by third baseman Lively. She threw to first to double up Frantz, and Mobley got the next hitter to pop up.
Jen Domschot singled to lead off the ninth inning, and moved to third on a pair of grounders. But, she was stranded at third after a third groundout.
The Cardinals loaded the bases in the 10th, after a BG error, a single and a walk. But, Johnson induced Orel to ground to third to end the threat.
In the top of the 11th, Johnson set the Cardinals down in order, just the second time in the game that BSU went one-two-three. That set the stage for the Falcon half of the frame.
Rouhana singled up the middle, marking the eighth time in 11 innings that the leadoff hitter reached base for the Brown and Orange. Machain bunted her to second base, and Jen Domschot was hit by a Mobley pitch.
Rosemeier then drew a walk to load the bases, but Mobley got Angie Domschot to hit a grounder to short. BSU shortstop Katie Shea threw home to force Rouhana for the second out of the inning, bringing senior Lynsey Ebel to the plate.
Ebel never got a chance to swing the bat, as Mobley's first pitch to her eluded catcher Willis. Jen Domschot scored on the passed ball, ending the three-hour, 13-minute game at exactly 7:30 p.m. EDT.
The teams combined for a whopping 28 runners left on base (15 for BSU, 13 for the Falcons). Five different Falcons, including all four seniors on the team, had two hits each as BG had a team total of 13.
Angie Domschot, Jen Domschot, Ebel, Rouhana and Rosemeier each had two safeties, with Jen Domschot the lone player to score a pair of runs. She crossed the plate with both the tying run and the winning run.
Shea and Lively each had three of the Cardinals' 14 hits, the highest total by a Falcon opponent in MAC play. Hjelmeland had two hits, while Willis had two hits and was the lone player with two RBI in the game.
Johnson improved to 4-2 with her eight innings of relief work. She allowed nine hits and one run, walking two batters and fanning three.
In seven appearances in MAC action, all in relief, Johnson has a 2-0 record and an ERA of just 0.34. BSU's run against her marks the lone earned run Johnson has surrendered in over 20 innings of work in league games.
Mobley threw 169 pitches in the second game and 276 in the doubleheader. She allowed 13 hits and five runs (four earned) in 10-and-two-thirds innings. In that second game, Mobley walked four batters and fanned one. Her record dropped to 16-10 on the year.
The 11-inning contest marked BGSU's longest since the final weekend of the 1996 season. BGSU has now won nine consecutive extra-inning games, and BG is 7-0 in extra-inning games in the Leigh Ross-Shaw head-coaching era.
The Falcons have not lost an extra-inning contest to a MAC team since a 4-3 loss at Miami on April 15, 1997.
BGSU steps outside of conference play for a Wednesday (April 25) doubleheader at Ohio State. Game one is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. Then, the Brown and Orange will return home for a three-game weekend series vs. Miami, beginning with a Friday (April 27) single game that starts at 3:00 p.m.
