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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head To Ball State
April 24, 2002 | Softball
April 24, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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The Bowling Green State University softball team concludes an eight-game stretch away from the friendly confines of the BGSU Softball Field this week ... the Falcons (16-21-1 overall, 7-9 Mid-American Conference) of fourth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw head to Muncie, Ind., for a Wednesday (April 24) doubleheader at Ball State University ... the first game is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. locally (3:00 p.m. BGSU time) at the BSU Softball Complex.
Following the BSU games, the Brown and Orange will return home for the final series of the year at the BGSU Softball Field ... the Falcons will host the University at Buffalo in a three-game weekend set ... the teams will play a Saturday (April 27) doubleheader and a Sunday (April 28) single game, with starting time scheduled for 1:00 p.m. each day ... next week, BGSU will close the regular season with four road games, including three conference contests ... the Falcons are looking to qualify for the MAC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season ... the league tourney will be May 9-11 at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio.
SUNDAY IS SENIOR DAY: Sunday's (April 28) game will be "Senior Day" at the BGSU Softball Field, as the six seniors on the team will be recognized ... Holly Frantz, Andrea Genter, Jessie Milosek, Natalie Phillips, Renee Rosemeier and Rebekah Tipton comprise the 2002 senior class.
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 105-85-1 (.552) ... Ross-Shaw, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, has a league mark of 54-32 (.628) 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 in conference games of any coach in BGSU softball history, and was the fastest coach in BG annals to get to 100 overall wins as well as 50 MAC victories ... Ross-Shaw is just 31 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: Ball State brings a 15-17 overall record into a Tuesday (April 23) home twinbill vs. Indiana ... the Cardinals are 7-5 in MAC action, good for fourth in the West Division, after a Saturday (April 21) DH split at Miami ... the teams were rained out on Sunday ... junior Katie Shea leads the Cardinals with a .402 batting average, followed by sophomore Kris Burdine at .337 ... Shea leads the team with 11 doubles and 12 RBI, while Burdine has scored a team-high 18 runs ... in the circle, junior Cortney Winger is 6-7 with a BSU-best 2.72 ERA, while sophomore Randi Freese is 7-8 with a 3.03 ERA ... the Cards will take a 3-2 home record into the Indiana DH ... last year, BSU went 32-20 and finished second in the West Division with a 17-7 MAC mark ... Terri Laux has a 153-148 record in her sixth year in Muncie ... she has an overall record of 305-396-2 in her 15th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletic web site is www.ballstatesports.com.
Buffalo takes a 5-20 overall record into a Tuesday home DH vs. Canisius ... the Bulls are 2-13 in the MAC after winning one of three weekend games vs. visiting Kent State ... the Bulls face a busy week of action ... after the Canisius DH, UB will play at St. Bonaventure Thursday (April 25), then will host Niagara for a pair of Friday (April 26) games before heading to BGSU for Saturday-Sunday action ... sophomore Breanne Nasti leads the Bulls with a .412 batting average, while freshman Julie Hibner is hitting .306 ... Nasti paces the club with five doubles, six homers, 13 runs and 15 RBI ... freshman Stacey Evans has a 2-7 record and a team-best 3.30 ERA ... Evans threw a one-hitter in UB's win over KSU ... sophomore Heather Robbins has a team-high three wins ... she is 3-6 with a 5.07 ERA ... last year, UB went 12-40 overall and 4-20 in the MAC ... Marie Curran is in her third year as a collegiate head coach, all with the Bulls, and has a record of 24-98 ... the school's athletic web site is www.buffalobulls.com.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead Ball State, 31-26, in the all-time series between the teams ... the Cardinals took two of last season's three meetings, however ... the teams split a doubleheader in BG (April 24, 2001), with BSU winning the first game, 3-0, and the Falcons rallying for a 5-4, 11-inning win in the nightcap ... then, the Cards eliminated the Brown and Orange from the MAC Tournament with a 3-2 win in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (May 11, 2001) ... the teams have not met in Muncie since the 1997 season, when BSU swept an April Fool's Day twinbill by scores of 8-2 and 6-5 ... Leigh Ross-Shaw has a record of 3-2 against the Cards during her head-coaching tenure.
BGSU leads Buffalo by a 5-0 count in that series ... the Falcons won a pair of 2000 games in Florida, then swept last year's three-game series in Buffalo ... BGSU won a 4-1 contest in the series opener (April 20, 2001), then won by 3-0 and 5-1 scores the next day ... this weekend's series will mark UB's first-ever games at the BGSU Softball Field ... Ross-Shaw has a 5-0 record vs. the Bulls during her head-coaching tenure.
LAST TIME(S) OUT: The Falcons have gone 2-1 over the last week ... BGSU dropped an 8-5 decision at Notre Dame on Thursday (April 18), then posted a pair of Monday (April 22) wins at Toledo ... the Falcons scored twice in the seventh inning for a 3-1 win in the opener, then rallied from a 6-0 deficit for a 10-8, nine-inning victory in the nightcap.
KERNAHAN ON A HOT STREAK: Sophomore Jenifer Kernahan got off to a slow start at the plate this year, but has been red-hot at the plate over the last few games ... Kernahan, who had her first three-hit game of the season in last Monday's (April 15) win at Miami, hit her first homer of the year to straightaway center in Thursday's (April 18) contest at Notre Dame ... then, she went 4-for-7 in the doubleheader at Toledo Monday (April 22), including another three-hit game in the nightcap ... Kernahan currently has a season-best six-game hitting streak, and it batting .579 (11-of-19) during that time ... prior to the current streak, Kernahan had a total of eight hits in 21 games this season.
ROSEMEIER, TOO: Senior Renee Rosemeier, like Kernahan, got off to a bit of a slow start at the plate this year ... but, Rosemeier has come around in a big way .. Rosemeier currently has a BGSU season-best 11-game hitting streak, and is hitting .432 (16-of-37) in that time ... she has displayed timely hitting as well, as evidenced in the sweep at Toledo ... Rosemeier broke a 1-1 tie with a seventh-inning RBI single in the opener, a 3-1 win ... then, with BG trailing by five runs in the sixth inning of the nightcap, she ripped a two-out, bases-loaded double to drive home all three runners and begin the Falcons' comeback ... Rosemeier had a season-high four RBI in that game, and now ranks second on the team with 20 RBI this year.
DOUBLE YOUR FUN: Junior shortstop Libby Voshell had a double in each end of the DH sweep at Toledo ... Voshell now has a total of 15 doubles this year, tying her for the second-highest single-season total in school history ... the BGSU record is 17, set by Dena Romstadt in 1993 ... Voshell is currently tied with Melissa Cricks (1998) on the seasonal chart ... Voshell now has a career total of 31 doubles, which is fourth on that school list ... her next target is third-place Cricks, who had 35 from 1995-98 ... Romstadt (1990-93) holds the career record, with 47 doubles ... senior Renee Rosemeier is also on the career doubles list, and is tied for fifth with 27.
MILOSEK STEPS IT UP: Senior Jessie Milosek has emerged as the Falcons' top pitcher over the past few weeks ... Milosek threw a complete-game five-hitter in the 3-1 win at Toledo, improving her team-best record to 8-4 on the year ... Milosek also leads the Falcons in games started (12), complete games (10), ERA (2.22), innings pitched (85.0) and strikeouts (48) ... she has allowed only one run in each of her last three starts, all complete-game efforts ... Milosek has thrown a complete game in each of her seven MAC starts this season.
NOTING THE FALCONS: Juniors Libby Voshell and Kandice Machain are in a virtual tie for the team batting lead, as each player sports a .313 average ... Voshell paces BG in doubles (15), RBI (20), slugging pct. (.496), on-base pct. (.385) and walks (14) ... Machain has team-high totals of 40 hits, three triples, three homers, 128 at-bats and 61 total bases ... freshman Sam Moore leads BG with 18 runs scored ... in the circle, senior Jessie Milosek leads the Brown and Orange with eight wins and an ERA of 2.22 ... Milosek has a record of 8-4, while senior Andrea Genter is 2-2 with a 3.21 ERA ... junior McKenna Houle has a 4-10 mark and a 3.28 ERA ... in MAC games, sophomore Jenifer Kernahan is hitting .440 in eight games, while senior Renee Rosemeier, Voshell and redshirt freshman Marla Murphy all are hitting .333 ... Milosek is 4-3 with a 2.38 ERA in league action ... senior Holly Frantz has a four-game hitting streak, and it batting .417 (5-for-12) with five runs scored in that time ... sophomore Jody Johnson had by far her finest pitching outing of the year at Toledo ... Johnson pitched seven innings of relief, allowing two runs and four hits, as BG rallied from six runs down for a 10-8 win.
