Bowling Green State University Athletics
Softball Hosts Ohio Tuesday, Heads To #11 Notre Dame Wednesday
April 09, 2001 | Softball
April 9, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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The Bowling Green State University softball team, looking to reverse a four-game losing streak, returns home for a Tuesday (April 10) Mid-American Conference twinbill. The Falcons (15-14 overall, 5-3 MAC) will host Ohio University, with first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field.
Following the Ohio doubleheader, the Brown and Orange will return to the road for a Wednesday (April 11) double-dip against the nationally-ranked University of Notre Dame. That twinbill is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. locally (4:30 p.m. BG time) at Ivy Field.
After Wednesday's games, the Falcons are idle until Monday, April 16, when BGSU will host the University of Detroit Mercy in a home doubleheader.
HEAD COACH LEIGH ROSS-SHAW: Leigh Ross-Shaw is in her third season as a collegiate head coach, and has an overall record of 69-59. Ross-Shaw has a Mid-American Conference mark of 33-21 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: Ohio enters the BGSU twinbill with an overall record of 24-12, and the Bobcats are tied atop the MAC's East Division (based upon games back) with a 9-2 league ledger. Ohio went on the road over the weekend and captured three of four games, sweeping a Friday (April 6) doubleheader at Toledo and splitting a Saturday (April 7) twinbill at Eastern Michigan. The Bobcats have won 13 of the last 15 games, and have surpassed the win total for all of last year. Last season, Ohio was 18-28 overall and 10-11 in MAC action. Head coach Roanna Brazier has a record of 118-134 in her fifth year as a collegiate head coach, all in Athens. More information on the team can be accessed at www.ohiobobcats.com.
Notre Dame, ranked 11th in the nation in the latest USA Today/NFCA poll, enters the week with an overall record of 32-3, and the Fighting Irish are 8-0 in Big East Conference play. UND will enter the BGSU games on a 14-game winning streak, and the team won four games on the road over the weekend. The Irish downed both Connecticut and Syracuse in doubleheaders, posting shutouts in all four games. Last year, Notre Dame went 47-14 overall, went 12-2 in the Big East and advanced to NCAA Regional action. Head coach Liz Miller welcomed back all nine starters from that team. Miller has a record of 355-152 in her ninth year at the school, and is 896-294 in her 26th season overall. UND's athletic web site is www.und.com.
THE SERIES: The Falcons hold a 38-30 lead over Ohio in the all-time series, but the Bobcats have captured the season series in each of the last two years. Last season, host Ohio won two of three games on the regular season's final weekend in Athens. The year prior, the Bobcats took three of four games, and the teams split in the two meetings in BG (April 17, 1999), with Ohio winning a 3-1 game in the opener, and the host Falcons taking the nightcap by a 9-2 count.
BGSU trails Notre Dame by a slim 7-6 count in a series that began in 1991. The Fighting Irish have won the last two series contests, taking a pair of one-run games, 4-3 and 2-1, against visiting BGSU two years ago (March 28, 1999).
RECAPPING LAST WEEK: The Falcons dropped all four games last week, including three in MAC play ... BGSU played a Wednesday (April 4) game vs. visiting Michigan, and fell to the Wolverines by a 5-2 count ... on Friday (April 6), host Central Michigan knocked the Falcons from the ranks of the MAC unbeaten, 2-0 ... then, CMU swept a Saturday (April 7) doubleheader, winning by scores of 3-2 and 1-0 ... Central's Amber Puchalski threw a perfect game in the nightcap.
FALCONS BY THE NUMBERS: The Falcons are hitting .239 as a team this year, while the opponents are hitting .278 ... BGSU has a team ERA of 2.49, while the foes have a 3.25 ERA ... when the Falcons' 29-0 loss to nationally-ranked Arizona is taken out of the equation, BGSU is hitting .244 to the opponents' .265, and the team ERA drops to 1.68 ... senior Nikki Rouhana (.358), freshman Jenifer Kernahan (.333) and senior Jen Domschot (.278) are the team's top-three in batting ... Jen Domschot leads the Falcons with 19 runs scored and 14 walks, while Rouhana paces the Brown and Orange in hits (29), total bases (40), slugging percentage (.494) and on-base pct. (429) ... junior Renee Rosemeier leads BG with seven doubles and 20 runs batted in ... Rosemeier and senior Lynsey Ebel have three homers each on the year ... sophomore McKenna Houle paces the pitchers with six wins, six complete games and two shutouts ... junior Jessie Milosek has a 1.83 earned-run average to lead the Falcons, with Houle's at 1.84 ... Houle has a 6-5 record, while Milosek is 5-5 ... Milosek and Houle have 34 and 32 strikeouts, respectively, on the year.
EBEL TIES SCHOOL HR RECORD: Senior Lynsey Ebel ripped a line-drive homerun to left field in the sixth inning of Wednesday's (April 4) game vs. Michigan ... that homer was the 11th of Ebel's BGSU career, tying the school record ... Ebel now shares the Falcon career record with Colleen Bates (1997-2000) ... senior Jen Domschot is right behind those two, with a career total of 10 homers in just her third year in the Brown and Orange.
GOOD PITCHING, BUT...: BGSU allowed just 11 runs in the four games last week, including just five earned runs ... the Falcons surrendered only six runs (four earned) in the three-game series at Central Michigan ... but, BGSU could score a total of only four runs on the week ... junior hurler Andrea Genter, in her first action in two weeks, had a 1.05 ERA last week, while sophomore McKenna Houle had a 1.27 ERA ... as a team, the Falcons had an ERA of 1.36 in the four games.
ROSEMEIER = RBI: Junior Renee Rosemeier hit her third homer of the season in Saturday's (April 7) first game at CMU ... Rosemeier now has a team-best 20 runs batted in this season, after driving in a total of 16 runs during all of last year ... Rosemeier had a slugging percentage of .700 last week.
INJURY REPORT: Sophomore rightfielder Crystal Wilson, who had been splitting time as the starter, broke her hand Wednesday (April 4) ... she is expected to be sidelined for at least a month (through the remainder of the regular season) ... freshman Marla Murphy broke her hand during BGSU's season-opening action at the Pepsi Arizona Classic (Feb. 16-18) ... Murphy, who was used as a pinch-runner in three games during that tournament, will sit out the remainder of the season as a redshirt.
FEAST OR FAMINE: The Falcons have scored six or more runs in 11 of this year's 29 games, but BG has scored three or fewer in 16 contests, including each of the last four ... BGSU has been shut out five times this year, getting no-hit twice and one-hit on two other occasions ... the Falcons had at least two hits in every one of last season's 51 games, and BG was shut out six times last year.
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 11 homers in 29 games.
