Bowling Green State University Athletics
Softball Begins Final Week Of Regular Season
April 30, 2001 | Softball
April 30, 2001
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The Bowling Green State University softball team, currently atop the Mid-American Conference's East Division, will look to remain there as the final week of the regular season begins. The Falcons (29-16 overall, 16-4 MAC) will begin the week with a non-conference doubleheader at Cleveland State University Monday (April 30). Game one is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. at Viking Field.
The next day (May 1), the Falcons will return to MAC action with a single game against the arch-rival University of Toledo. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field.
Following the UT game, the Brown and Orange will conclude the regular season with a three-game weekend series against Kent State University. The Falcons and Golden Flashes, currently the top two teams in the East Division, will face off in a Friday (May 4) single game, beginning at 3:00 p.m., and a 1:00 p.m. Saturday (May 5) doubleheader. All three games will be played at the BGSU Softball Field.
The Falcons need just one win, or one loss by fourth-place Ohio, to clinch a spot in the MAC Tournament. The league tourney will be held May 10-12 at the site of the team with the top regular-season record.
The Brown and Orange still has a chance to host the MAC Tournament, as BGSU enters the week just a half-game behind West Division-leading Central Michigan University (17-4) in the race for the top overall record. BGSU must finish ahead of CMU, however, as the Chippewas hold the tiebreaker by virtue of a sweep of the teams' season series.
HEAD COACH LEIGH ROSS-SHAW: Leigh Ross-Shaw is in her third season as a collegiate head coach, and has an overall record of 83-61 (.576). Ross-Shaw has a Mid-American Conference mark of 44-22 (.667) after leading the Falcons to a MAC East Division co-championship last year.
Ross-Shaw 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 a high-school head coach, at Notre Dame Academy in Toledo, 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. On February 2, she was inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame.
Amy Kyler is in her third 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, and pitched for the Akron Racers in each of the last two seasons.
THE OPPONENTS: Cleveland State sports a 15-27 overall record heading into Monday's BGSU twinbill, and the Vikings have a record of 3-9 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference this year. Last week, CSU split a midweek doubleheader with visiting Kent State, and also split a pair of league games vs. UW-Green Bay Saturday (April 28). The Vikings will conclude a 12-game homestand Monday, and CSU is 4-6 on the homestand and 7-7 at home this year to date. Last year, CSU went 19-27, with a 4-6 MCC mark. Head coach Julie Jones, in her fifth season, has a record of 109-132. More information can be found on the web at www.csuvikings.com.
Toledo begins the week with a 19-30 overall record, and the Rockets take a 2-16 MAC record into Monday's (April 30) doubleheader at Akron. Last week, UT went 1-4, dropping a Wednesday (April 25) twinbill at Notre Dame before taking one of three games at Eastern Michigan over the weekend. The win, in the second game of Saturday's (April 28) doubleheader, broke a seven-game overall losing streak, and a 12-game slide in MAC action. Last year, the Rockets went 11-26 overall and 5-15 in league action. Michelle Fagnant, 30-56 in her second year in the Glass City, is 137-121 in her sixth year as a collegiate head coach. UT's athletic web site is www.utrockets.
Kent State starts the week with a 26-18 overall mark, including a league ledger of 13-6. The Golden Flashes are scheduled to play home doubleheaders vs. Northern Illinois Monday (April 30) and Cleveland State Tuesday (May 1) before coming to BG for the weekend. Last week, the Flashes swept a Monday (April 23) doubleheader vs. Youngstown State, split a Wednesday (April 25) twinbill at CSU, and won two of three games vs. Akron over the weekend. KSU is 10-6 on the road this year, including 6-3 in MAC road games. Last year, the Flashes went 21-28 overall and 9-13 in the MAC. Head coach Karen Linder has a record of 136-119 in her fifth year at KSU. She is 389-319-1 in her 16th year as a collegiate head coach. The school's athletic web site is www.kent.edu/athletics.
THE SERIES: The Falcons hold a 14-4 lead over Cleveland State in the all-time series, and BGSU has won the last five meetings. Last year, the Brown and Orange swept a home twinbill by scores of 7-6 and 4-0 (May 8, 2000). The teams split the last meetings in the Rock and Roll City, with the Vikings taking a 1-0 decision despite a Jessie Milosek one-hitter, and the Falcons rallying for a 16-8 win in the nightcap.
BGSU leads Toledo by a 37-31 margin, and the Falcons have won the last six games between the teams, including a pair at the BGSU Softball Field earlier this season. BGSU captured games on March 27 by scores of 7-1 and 9-1, with the second game taking six innings. BG and UT did not meet in league play last year, but the Falcons posted a pair of wins, 10-1 and 4-0, in two games in Florida (March 10, 2000). The Falcons have won nine of the last 11 overall meetings, and have captured the last seven games in BG.
The Falcons trail Kent State, 39-35-1, but the Brown and Orange captured all three games last season, sweeping a series in BG (April 21-22, 2000) by scores of 5-1, 2-0 and 3-1. Jessie Milosek threw a no-hitter in the middle game of the series. Prior to that series sweep, KSU had won six of the last severn series meetings.
RECAPPING LAST WEEK: The Falcons won five of seven games last week, taking four of the five MAC contests ... on Tuesday (April 24), the Brown and Orange split a home doubleheader with Ball State ... BGSU lost the first game, 3-0, breaking a nine-game winning streak, but rallied to win the nightcap, 5-4 in 11 innings ... the next day (April 25), the Falcons headed to Columbus and split a twinbill with Ohio State ... OSU won the opener, 5-2, but BG took the second game, 2-1 in eight innings ... then, the Falcons returned home and swept a three-game weekend series from Miami ... BGSU downed the RedHawks, 2-1, in Friday (April 27) action, then swept MU in a Saturday (April 28) DH, 13-2 in five innings and 5-3.
LYNSEY EBEL SETS NEW HR RECORD: For the fourth consecutive week, the BGSU career record for homeruns has been matched or broken ... senior Lynsey Ebel homered in both ends of Saturday's sweep of Miami ... those round-trippers give her 13 in her career, moving her past classmate Jen Domschot into first place ... Domschot had hit her 12th career homer in an April 18 win at Akron ... Domschot had tied the record on April 10 vs. Ohio, just six days after Ebel had tied the school record with her 11th career blast, vs. Michigan.
FALCONS BY THE NUMBERS: The Falcons are hitting .263 as a team this year, while the opponents are hitting .247 ... BGSU has a team ERA of 1.80, while the foes have a 3.43 ERA ... when the Falcons' 29-0 loss to nationally-ranked Arizona is taken out of the equation, BGSU is hitting .266 to the opponents' .238, and the team ERA drops to 1.29 ... seniors Nikki Rouhana (.372), Jen Domschot (.354) and Lynsey Ebel (.282) are the team's top-three in batting ... Jen Domschot leads the Falcons with 38 runs scored, 24 walks, 74 total bases and a .583 slugging percentage, while Rouhana paces the Brown and Orange in hits (51) and doubles (10) ... Ebel and junior Renee Rosemeier have compiled totals of 31 and 30 runs batted in, respectively ... Ebel has five homers, while Rosemeier and Jen Domschot have four each on the year ... sophomore McKenna Houle paces the pitchers with nine wins, eight complete games and three shutouts ... Houle and junior Jessie Milosek each have a 1.39 ERA ... Houle has a 9-6 record, while Milosek is 7-6 ... junior Andrea Genter is 6-2 with a 2.13 ERA, while freshman Jody Johnson is 7-2 and has an ERA of 1.70 ... Milosek and Houle have 52 and 50 strikeouts, respectively, on the year, while Genter has 41 and Johnson 39.
HOME COOKIN': With the sweep of Miami over the weekend, the Falcons improved to 10-2 in home games this season ... BGSU is 8-1 vs. MAC opponents at home, and the Falcons have won 15 of the last 16 home games vs. league foes ... in Leigh Ross-Shaw's head-coaching tenure, the Falcons have a record of 33-9 at the BGSU Softball Field, including a 27-7 mark against the MAC.
JEN DOMSCHOT KEEPS HITTING: Senior Jen Domschot had a solid week as the Falcons won five of seven games last week ... Domschot hit a team-leading .476, with 10 hits in 21 at-bats ... she led the Falcons with 10 hits, eight runs and an on-base percentage of .560 ... in MAC games last week, Domschot hit .467 (7-of-15) with an on-base pct. of .556 ... she scored both the tying and winning runs in BG's 5-4, 11-inning win over Ball State Tuesday, and again scored the winning run in extra innings in the next day's 2-1 win at Ohio State ... Domschot had a double, a triple and three RBI in the first inning of Saturday's 13-2 win over Miami ... in the second game that day, she broke a 3-3 tie by singling home the game-winning run in the sixth inning ... she is hitting an even .500 (21-of-42) in the last two weeks.
JOHNSON GOES 4-0: Freshman Jody Johnson entered last week with a season total of three wins ... she topped that with four wins in last week's action alone, going 4-0 with an earned-run average of 0.56 ... in MAC play last week, Johnson was 3-0 with an 0.82 ERA ... she earned a win vs. Ball State, with eight innings of one-run relief ... Johnson again threw eight innings the next day, outdualing Ohio State ace Katie Chain in a 2-1 win over the Buckeyes ... in that game, Johnson allowed only an unearned run and three hits ... she took a one-hitter into the seventh, and struck out the side in both the fifth and eighth innings en route to a BGSU season-high 10 whiffs ... Johnson got a pair of wins vs. Miami, including four innings of scoreless, one-hit relief in Friday's game ... on the year, Johnson is now 7-2, and she is 4-0 with a team-best 0.48 ERA in MAC play.
HOMER HAPPY: Entering the Leigh Ross-Shaw (head-coaching) Era, the BGSU single-season record for homers was eight ... Ross-Shaw's first team obliterated that mark by hitting 19 round-trippers in 1999 ... not to be outdone, the 2000 squad matched that record ... this year, BGSU has a total of 18 homers in 45 games.
ANGIE DOMSCHOT MOVES UP: Senior Angie Domschot is making her presence felt on the BGSU career records lists ... in fact, she is ranked on every school batting list ... Domschot is in sole possession of second place in runs scored, with an even 100 in her BGSU tenure ... she is the BGSU career leader with 19 triples, and ranks second in doubles, with 37 ... additionally, Domschot is on the BG career lists for walks (49, fifth), hits (180, fifth), RBI (75, sixth), at-bats (611, fourth), batting average (.295, 10th) and homeruns (three, tied for 15th).
CAREER RECORDS WATCH: In addition to Angie Domschot, a number of other Falcons are moving up the school's career lists ... seniors Lynsey Ebel and Jen Domschot, as mentioned, are first and second, respectively, with 13 and 12 homeruns ... Jen Domschot is second in batting average, with a career percentage of .339 ... senior Nikki Rouhana is 11th on that list at .293 ... Ebel has 73 RBI to rank seventh on that list, while Jen Domschot is 10th with 68 ... Jen Domschot and Rouhana have 54 and 53 walks, respectively, to rank third and fourth in BG history ... sophomore Libby Voshell has five career homers to tie her for eighth on that list, while Rouhana and junior Renee Rosemeier have four apiece to deadlock for 11th ... sophomore McKenna Houle has nine shutouts to rank fifth, while junior Jessie Milosek is tied for sixth with eight ... Houle's 20 wins rank her 10th on that list, with Milosek right behind at 19 ... Houle's career ERA of 1.28 ranks her second in school annals, while Milosek is eighth at 1.86.
NOTING THE FALCONS: BGSU currently has a MAC winning percentage of .800 ... the best league winning pct. in school history is .750, set by the 1998 team (24-8) ... senior Jen Domschot has hit .500 (21-of-42) over the last two weeks ... entering this weekend's three-game series with Kent State, the Falcons are 13-0 against MAC East Division foes this year ... after sweeping Miami over the weekend, the Falcons have won seven consecutive games vs. the RedHawks, and have taken 19 of the last 20 meetings at the BGSU Softball Field ... BGSU made good use of seven hits in Saturday's opener, scoring 13 runs ... six of the seven hits were for extra bases, including three doubles, a pair of triples and a Lynsey Ebel homer ... Ebel homered in both ends of Saturday's doubleheader ... after going 33 games without an extra-inning contest this year, the Falcons played three in an eight-day span ... BGSU has now won 10 consecutive extra-inning games, and the Falcons are 8-0 in such games during the Leigh Ross-Shaw head-coaching era ... the 11-inning contest vs. Ball State marked BG's longest since the final weekend of the 1996 season ... sophomore McKenna Houle suffered the loss in the opener of the BSU doubleheader, despite throwing a complete-game two-hitter ... that effort marked the fewest hits allowed by a Falcon pitcher this year ... senior Nikki Rouhana is batting .451 in MAC games, having gone 32-for-71) ... she has a slugging percentage of .662 and a team-high 23 runs scored in the 20 games ... Jen Domschot is batting .383 with 20 RBI vs. league foes, while sophomore Kandice Machain is hitting .365 (19-of-52) with a .500 slugging percentage in league contests ... junior Renee Rosemeier is hitting .303 vs. the MAC, while senior Angie Domschot is hitting .288 and Ebel .286 vs. the MAC ... Rosemeier and Ebel each have three homers in league games ... Falcon pitchers have combined for an ERA of 0.86 vs. the MAC, with four shutouts ... freshman Jody Johnson is 4-0 with an ERA of 0.48 against the league, while juniors McKenna Houle and Jessie Milosek have earned-run averages of 0.78 and 0.81, respectively ... Houle is 6-2, while Milosek is 3-1 ... junior Andrea Genter is 3-1 with a 1.43 ERA in the league ... the Falcons are 26-5 vs. MAC East Division opponents since the beginning of the 2000 conference season ... BGSU is 12-2 in games decided by five or more runs this year.
