Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons To Play Eight Games In Seven-Day Span (Weather Permitting)
March 25, 2002 | Softball
March 25, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Release & Stats in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The Bowling Green State University softball team, after beginning Mid-American Conference play with a three-game sweep, now prepares for eight games in a seven-day span (weather permitting) ... the Falcons (10-9 overall, 3-0 MAC) of fourth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw are scheduled to play a Tuesday (March 26) game at the nationally-ranked University of Michigan ... the first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at U-M's Alumni Field.
Following the U-M game, BGSU is slated to return home for a non-league doubleheader against Eastern Michigan University Wednesday (March 27) ... the first game is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field ... the EMU twinbill was rescheduled from last Thursday (March 21) ... although both teams are MAC members, the games are not part of the conference schedule ... the Falcons and Eagles were not scheduled to play in MAC competition in 2002, so the respective coaches agreed to play the two non-conference games.
Then, the Falcons are scheduled to return to MAC play with a three-game weekend series at Kent State University ... the teams are scheduled to play a single game Friday (March 29), beginning at 3:00 p.m., followed by a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader Saturday (March 30) at the Kent State Softball Field.
BGSU then begins a nine-game homestand with next Monday's (April 1) twinbill vs. Oakland University, starting at 3:30 p.m.
BGSU is coming off a 2001 season that saw the team go 35-19 overall and 19-5 in MAC action ... the Falcons won the MAC's East Division by three games ... BG's total of 35 wins tied for the second-most victories in school history.
HEAD COACH LEIGH ROSS-SHAW: Leigh Ross-Shaw is in her fourth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 99-73 (.576) ... Ross-Shaw, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, has a league mark of 50-23 (.685) after leading the Brown and Orange to a MAC East Division title last year and a co-championship in 2000 ... she has the best winning percentage, both overall and in conference games, of any coach in BGSU softball history ... she is just 37 wins shy of the school's all-time leader, Jacquie Joseph.
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 August of 1996 after serving as a high-school head coach, at Notre Dame Academy in Toledo, for four seasons.
Ross-Shaw is the only coach in school history to string together three consecutive winning seasons in MAC play ... the Falcons, who also had a winning league ledger in Ross-Shaw's last year as an assistant (1998), have posted four-straight winning MAC marks for the first time ever.
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 ... in February of 2001, she was inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame.
Lena Richards and Tami Summers each are in their first season as Ross-Shaw's assistants ... Richards, a native of East Lansing, Mich., played two years of softball at UT, earning All-MAC First-Team honors in both 1995 and 1996 ... Summers, a native of Tallmadge, Ohio, was a four-year letterwinner for the Rockets from 1984-87 ... she set school career records for appearances, innings pitched, strikeouts, ERA and winning pct. (.703) ... Summers returned to her alma mater, serving as head coach in 1998 and 1999.
THE OPPONENTS: Michigan, ranked 13th in the nation, will bring a 21-6 record into Tuesday's game vs. BGSU ... the Wolverines went 4-0 at the Louisville Invitational over the weekend ... senior Stephanie Volpe is hitting a team-best .410 this year, while junior Marissa Young is 12-4 with an ERA of 0.86 ... Tuesday's game, weather permitting, will mark U-M's 2002 home opener ... last year, U-M went 43-17-1 overall, winning the Big Ten Conference with a 17-3 league mark ... the Wolverines also advanced to the College World Series ... head coach Carol Hutchins has a record of 725-304-4 in her 18th season in Ann Arbor ... she is 748-315-4 in her 19th season overall ... the school's athletic web site is MGoBlue.com.
Eastern Michigan has a 6-12 record on the season, and the Eagles have a 1-2 MAC record ... EMU won one of three games at Western Michigan over the weekend ... freshman Tiffany Brown led the team in batting, with a .375 average, heading into the WMU series ... another frosh, Lauren Allen, had three of the Eagles' four homers to date this year ... pitcher Marcy Mobley, a senior, had a 3-2 record and a 2.49 ERA in her first season after transferring from Ball State ... last year, EMU went 15-34 overall and finished fourth in the MAC's West Division with a league mark of 8-16 ... Nancy Oestrike has a record of 94-185 in her sixth year with the Eagles ... she is 164-223-4 in her ninth season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletic web site is www.emich.edu/goeagles.
Kent State enters the week with a 6-9 overall record, and the Golden Flashes are scheduled to open MAC action with a Tuesday (March 26) twinbill at Northern Illinois ... KSU has been idle since going 1-3 at the Buckeye Invitational in Columbus (March 15-17) ... junior Megan McGaughey leads the team with a .302 batting average and 10 RBI ... in the circle, freshman Melissa Rhodes has a team-best 2.40 ERA, while sophomore Kate Leary paces the Flashes with a 4-0 record ... last year, KSU finished 32-22 overall and placed second in the MAC's East Division with a 16-8 mark ... coach Karen Linder has a 148-132 record in her sixth year in Kent ... she is 401-332-1 in her 17th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's web site is www.kent.edu/athletics.
Oakland has a 6-17 record after competing at Purdue's Boilermaker Invitational over the weekend ... the Golden Grizzlies are slated to host Central Michigan in a Wednesday (March 27) twinbill before opening Mid-Continent Conference play with a four-game series at UMKC Friday and Saturday (March 29-30) ... junior Ericka Burns led the team with a .391 batting average heading into the Purdue Tourney ... in the circle, freshman Nicole Marzano had a team-leading 2.29 ERA, while sophomore Jaymie Voss led the Golden Grizzlies with three victories ... last year, in only the school's second year as a program, OU went 25-29 overall and won the Mid-Con with a 16-6 league mark ... Steve Ogg has a record of 49-80-1 in his third season as a head coach, all with the Grizzlies ... the school's athletic web site is www.ougrizzlies.com.
THE SERIES: BGSU trails Michigan by a 19-4 count in the all-time series between the teams ... U-M has won the last seven meetings since the Falcons' last victory, in 1992 ... the Wolverines recorded a 5-2 win at BG in last year's only meeting (April 4, 2001), and U-M captured an 8-0, six-inning decision in the last game at Alumni Field (April 19, 2000) ... the Falcons' last win in Ann Arbor came in 1989.
BG leads Eastern Michigan, 35-27, in that series between the teams ... the Falcons and Eagles have not met in over two years, since a 6-3 EMU win in Miami, Fla., in BGSU's 2000 season opener (March 3, 2000) ... the Eagles, in fact, have won the last three games in the series, including a MAC Tournament victory in 1999 (2-1, May 13, 1999) ... in the last games at the BGSU Softball Field (April 25, 1998), the Falcons swept a doubleheader by the scores of 4-2 and 2-1 ... in fact, BGSU had won 11 consecutive meetings with EMU prior to the Eagles' current three-game winning streak.
The Falcons have met Kent State more than any other opponent in softball, and the Golden Flashes hold a narrow series lead, 40-37-1 ... BGSU captured two of last year's three meetings, held at BG on the final weekend of the regular season (May 4-5, 2001) ... in 2000, the Falcons swept visiting KSU in three games ... the teams have not met in Kent since April 25, 1999, when the Flashes won a pair of one-run games.
BGSU and Oakland have met only once on the softball diamond, a 6-0 Falcon road win on April 2, 2000.
LAST TIME(S) OUT: The Falcons opened MAC play by sweeping Marshall in a three-game weekend series (March 23-24) ... BGSU posted wins by the scores of 6-3 and 2-1 on Saturday, then took a 5-3 decision Sunday ... all three games were held at the BGSU Softball Field ... last Thursday's (March 21) scheduled non-league twinbill vs. Eastern Michigan was postponed due to inclement weather, and was rescheduled for Wednesday (March 27).
SHE'S FAST: During her playing days, Leigh Ross-Shaw was one of the fastest players in the MAC ... now, as a head coach, Ross-Shaw has displayed her speed once again ... Sunday's (March 24) win over Marshall made her the fourth BGSU softball coach to win 50 MAC games, and Ross-Shaw was the fastest to get to that milestone ... she is 50-23 in league games and 99-73 overall ... if the Falcons can win once in the next 46 games, Ross-Shaw would become the fastest BGSU coach to get to 100 wins as well (complete list in pdf version of release).
VOSHELL ON DOUBLES LISTS: Junior shortstop Libby Voshell had a double in each of the three games against Marshall ... she now has 12 doubles this season, tying her for the third-highest single-season total in school history ... the BGSU record is 17, set by Dena Romstadt in 1993 ... Voshell now has a career total of 28, which is fourth on that school list ... her next target is third-place Melissa Cricks, who had 35 from 1995-98 ... Romstadt (1990-93) holds the career record, with 47 doubles.
HOME COOKIN': The Falcons have experienced a great deal of success in home games over the past few years ... BGSU is 3-0 at home this year, after finishing with a 13-3 record in home contests last season ... the Falcons went 11-2 vs. MAC opponents at the BGSU Softball Field in 2001 ... the Falcons now have won 21 of the last 23 home games vs. league foes ... in Leigh Ross-Shaw's head-coaching tenure, the Falcons have a record of 39-10 (.796) at the BGSU Softball Field, including a 33-8 (.805) mark against the MAC.
MORE ON VOSHELL: Junior Libby Voshell, the reigning MAC Player of the Week, continued her offensive prowess in the Marshall series ... Voshell batted .500 in the three games, with three doubles, five RBI and eight total bases ... she led the team in each of the latter three categories, and was second in batting, slugging pct. (.800) and on-base pct. (.545) ... she also was perfect in 19 chances in the field ... on the year, Voshell is hitting a team-high .393, and also leads the Falcons in hits (24), doubles (12), homers (1), RBI (16), total bases (39), slugging pct. (639) and OBP (.441).
MOORE BASERUNNERS: Freshman Sara "Sam" Moore enjoyed a great deal of success in her first home games as a collegian ... the second baseman hit .667 in the Marshall series, and reached base seven times in nine plate appearances ... she led the Falcons in runs scored in the series, with four, and also paced the team in slugging pct. (1.167) and on-base pct. (.778) ... in two of the three games, she reached base in every plate appearance ... Moore was 1-for-1 with two walks, two runs scored and a stolen base in Saturday's (March 23) opener ... the next day, she was 3-for-3 with a double and her first collegiate triple ... the three-bagger drove in two runs to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth ... she eventually would score what proved to be the winning run in a 5-3 victory.
HOULE GETS TWO WINS: Junior McKenna Houle picked up the win in each of the last two games of the Marshall series ... Houle had a 1.17 ERA on the weekend ... she tossed a complete-game four-hitter in Saturday's (March 23) second contest, a 2-1 BG win ... Houle got the win in relief Sunday as the Falcons rallied for the 5-3 victory ... in that game, she allowed only two hits in five innings of work ... Houle surrendered just one hit over the final four frames, and that lone baserunner was retired on a double play ... she set the side down in order in each of the last three innings ... Houle, now 4-4 on the year, allowed MU to bat just .154 against her on the weekend.
NOTING THE FALCONS: The Falcons now hold a 16-1 lead over MU in the all-time series between the teams, including a perfect 6-0 record at the BGSU Softball Field ... overall, BG has won the last eight matchups with the Thundering Herd ... junior Crystal Wilson has a total of 10 RBI this year, which already surpasses her previous career total of eight ... nine of Wilson's 10 RBI have come with two outs, tops on the Falcons ... BGSU batters had an on-base pct. of .632 when leading off an inning in the Marshall series, as 12 of the 19 hitters reached safely.
