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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host CMU In Weekend Series
April 02, 2002 | Softball
April 2, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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UP NEXT: The Bowling Green State University softball team is scheduled to play six games in a five-day span beginning Wednesday (April 3) ... on that day, the Falcons (11-12-1 overall, 3-3 MAC) of fourth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw are scheduled to play a single game at the nationally-ranked University of Michigan ... first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at U-M's Alumni Field ... the game was rescheduled from last Tuesday (March 26).
Following the U-M game, BGSU is slated to return home for a non-league doubleheader against Cleveland State University Thursday (April 4) ... the first game is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field ... then, the Falcons return to MAC play with a three-game weekend series against Central Michigan University ... the teams, the defending division winners, are scheduled to meet in a Saturday (April 6) doubleheader, followed by a single game on Sunday (April 7) ... start time is 1:00 p.m. each day at the BGSU Softball Field.
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 100-76-1 (.568) ... Ross-Shaw, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, has a league mark of 50-26 (.658) 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, and is the fastest coach in BG annals to get to 100 overall wins as well as 50 MAC victories ... Ross-Shaw is just 36 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 24-7 record into Wednesday's game vs. BGSU ... the Wolverines are 3-1 in Big Ten Conference play after a Sunday (March 31) sweep of #25 Ohio State ... senior Stephanie Volpe is hitting a team-best .400 this year, while junior Marissa Young is 13-5 with an ERA of 1.07 ... last weekend's games, which included a Saturday (March 30) split with Penn State, were the first home contests for the Wolverines ... last year, U-M went 43-17-1 overall, winning the Big Ten with a 17-3 league mark ... the Wolverines also advanced to the College World Series ... head coach Carol Hutchins has a record of 728-305-4 in her 18th season in Ann Arbor ... she is 751-316-4 in her 19th season overall ... the school's athletic web site is MGoBlue.com.
Cleveland State enters the week with an overall mark of 8-10, and the Vikings were scheduled to host Toledo in a Tuesday twinbill before heading to BG Thursday ... Tiffany Stocker leads the team with a .426 batting average, while Jackie Miller is batting .400 ... Kortney Spidell leads the team with a 2.37 ERA and 49-plus innings pitched ... the Vikes swept Canisius in a Saturday doubleheader ... last year, CSU went 19-33 overall and 3-9 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, which has since changed its name to the Horizon League ... Julie Jones is the head coach of the Vikings, with former BGSU assistant coach Amy Kyler a member of her staff ... the Vikings' athletic web site is www.csuvikings.com.
Central Michigan enters the week with a 14-11 overall record, and the Chippewas are 2-1 in MAC play ... CMU is scheduled to play a Wednesday (April 3) doubleheader vs. Western Michigan, the team's home opener, before coming to BG ... Central has been idle since splitting a twinbill at Oakland last Wednesday (March 27) ... junior Michelle Brander is hitting .380, while senior Becky Manson is batting .365 ... senior Jennifer Skuta has a .338 batting average and leads the team with six homers and 24 RBI ... junior Jenni Rasmussen has a 5-3 record and a team-low 2.01 ERA ... a year ago, CMU went 37-20 overall and won the MAC's West Division with a 20-4 league mark ... the Chippewas also won the MAC Tournament and advanced to NCAA play ... head coach Margo Jonker has a record of 781-424-5 in her 24th season as a collegiate head coach, all in Mount Pleasant ... the school's athletic web site is www.cmuchippewas.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.
The Falcons hold a 16-4 lead over Cleveland State in the all-time series, and BGSU has won the last seven meetings ... last year, the Brown and Orange swept a doubleheader in the Rock and Roll City, winning by scores of 4-2 and 7-4 (April 30, 2001) ... in the last meetings at the BGSU Softball Field, BG swept a pair of games, 7-6 and 4-0.
The Falcons trail Central Michigan by a 48-11 margin in the series, and the Chippewas have won the last 22 contests since a BGSU win in 1994 ... CMU swept a three-game series in Mt. Pleasant last year (April 6-7, 2001), winning by scores of 2-0, 3-2 and 1-0 ... the teams have not met at the BGSU Softball Field since the 1998 season, when Central swept a twinbill (4-1 and 7-1, April 24, 1998).
LAST TIME(S) OUT: The Falcons dropped three narrow decisions at Kent State over the weekend, losing a 3-2 game Friday (March 29) and a Saturday DH by scores of 5-4 and 4-2 ... BG returned home for a pair of Monday (April 1) games vs. Oakland, winning a 3-2 game in the opener and tying the Golden Grizzlies, 2-2, in the nightcap ... the latter game was halted after six innings due to darkness ... last Tuesday's (March 26) scheduled game at Michigan and Wednesday's (March 27) home twinbill vs. Eastern Michigan were postponed due to inclement weather.
MACHAIN DIGS THE LONG BALL: Junior Kandice Machain had quite an afternoon on Saturday (March 30) at Kent State ... Machain hit the first homer of her career to open the first game that day, then hit two more round-trippers before the end of the twinbill ... Machain went homerless in her first 237 collegiate at-bats, then hit her three homers in a seven at-bat span ... she drove in five of BGSU's six runs on the day, and had a slugging pct. of 1.300 on the weekend.
MACHAIN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Junior Kandice Machain was named the MAC East Division Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday evening (April 1) ... Machain earns the honor for the first time in her collegiate career ... she hit .400 in the Falcons' series at Kent State, including the first three homeruns of her collegiate career ... after Monday's DH vs. Oakland, in which Machain went 3-for-6, she is hitting .364 on the season, leading the Falcons in at-bats (77), hits (28 - tied for team lead), triples (three), homers (three), and fielding pct. (1.000) ... Machain is second on the squad in runs scored (13), RBI (14), slugging pct. (.610) and on-base pct. (.402).
JUST THE LATEST IN A LONG LINE OF WINNERS: On Monday (April 1), Kandice Machain became the third consecutive Falcon to be named East Division P-O-W ... junior Libby Voshell earned the honor two weeks prior (March 18), while freshman Sam Moore was named the P-O-W on March 25 ... Moore was named after hitting .667 in the Falcons' three-game sweep of Marshall ... in that series, she reached base seven times in nine plate appearances, and led the team in runs (four), slugging pct. (1.167), on-base pct. (.778) and walks (three) ... all three players -- Voshell, Moore and Machain -- earned the honor for the first time in their respective collegiate careers.
MACHAIN TIES VOSHELL'S RECORD: Records are sketchy, but it is believed that Kandice Machain's two-homer game at Kent State (March 30) ties the school single-game record ... teammate Libby Voshell had what is believed to be the first two-homer contest in school history last year, going deep twice vs. Illinois on March 12, 2001.
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 ... Monday's (April 1) win over Oakland made her the fourth BGSU softball coach to win 100 games, and Ross-Shaw was the fastest to get to that milestone ... she is now 100-76-1 overall and 50-26 in MAC games ... in the Marshall series, Ross-Shaw became the fastest BG softball coach to reach 50 conference wins.
HOME COOKIN': The Falcons have experienced a great deal of success in home games over the past few years ... BGSU is 4-0-1 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 40-10-1 (.794) at the BGSU Softball Field, including a 33-8 (.805) mark against the MAC.
VOSHELL ON DOUBLES LISTS: Junior shortstop Libby Voshell 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.
MORE ON VOSHELL: Junior Libby Voshell continues her offensive prowess this season ... Voshell is hitting a team-best .373 on the year, leading the team in extra-base hits (14), RBI (17), slugging pct. (.613) and on-base pct. (.429) ... with 28 hits and 17 RBI on the year, Voshell is just four away from matching her career best in each category.
PHILLIPS HITS, TOO: Senior Natalie Phillips had a pair of doubles at Kent State ... she now has seven doubles on the season after recording just one during her first three years ... she has set new career marks in nearly every category ... Phillips has 15 hits and nine RBI this season after totalling seven and one, respectively, in her first three seasons combined.
NOTING THE FALCONS: Last year, BGSU swept Marshall in a three-game series in the opening weekend of the MAC season ... then, the 2001 Falcons were swept in a three-game series at CMU, before running off seven consecutive MAC wins, and winning 13 of the next 14 league games ... this year, BG opened MAC play with a three-game sweep of Marshall, before getting swept in a three-game series in the second weekend of MAC action ... the Falcons went five consecutive games without committing an error, including the last two Marshall games and all three contests at KSU ... the five-game errorless streak is BGSU's longest in at least nine years (records prior to the 1993 season are incomplete) ... the Falcons' three losses to Kent State ended a streak in which BG went 19-1 against MAC East Division teams ... the Falcons' only loss to a divisional foe during that time came to the Golden Flashes (May 5, 2001) ... junior Crystal Wilson has a total of 12 RBI this year, which already surpasses her previous career total of eight ... 11 of Wilson's 12 RBI have come with two outs, tops on the Falcons.
