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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Enter Final Week Looking For MAC Tourney Berth
April 30, 2002 | Softball
April 30, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Release (9 pages) in PDF Format
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The Bowling Green State University softball team concludes the regular season with five road games this week ... the Falcons (18-24-1 overall, 9-12 Mid-American Conference) of fourth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw, still in the hunt for a berth in the MAC Tournament, will play a Wednesday (May 1) game at the University of Toledo ... first pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at UT's Scott Park.
Following the UT game, the Brown and Orange will step out of conference play for a Thursday (May 2) doubleheader at the University of Detroit Mercy ... the Falcons and Titans will begin at 3:30 p.m. at Titan Field ... then, BGSU will close the regular season with a Sunday (May 5) doubleheader at Ohio University ... the first game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. at the Ohio Softball Field ... the Falcons are looking to qualify for the MAC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
MAC TOURNAMENT PICTURE: The Falcons' two losses to Buffalo Saturday (April 27) mean that BGSU no longer controls its own fate in the battle for a MAC Tournament berth ... BG must win out, and must hope for some help ... each of the following things must occur for the Falcons to make the tourney:
The top-two teams from each division will qualify for the MAC Tournament ... in addition, the next two teams with the best overall winning percentage, regardless of division, will round out the six-team field.
Three MAC wins by the Falcons would give BGSU a 12-12 record and an even .500 winning pct. in league play ... Marshall, currently at .500 (11-11), would also be 12-12 with a split vs. Ohio ... but, the Falcons would win a tiebreaker by virtue of a three-game sweep in the team's regular-season meetings ... WMU, currently 10-8, would drop below the .500 mark if swept by Ball State.
The MAC Tournament is scheduled for May 9-11 at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio ... detailed information, including MAC standings, results and remaining schedule, can be found in the .pdf version of this release.
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 107-88-1 (.548) ... Ross-Shaw, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, has a league mark of 56-35 (.615) 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 29 wins shy of the school's all-time leader, Jacquie Joseph (136-123 from 1989-93) ... Ross-Shaw's total of 56 MAC wins places her third behind Joseph (78-71) and Rachel Miller-Reif (71-84 from 1994-98).
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: Toledo will bring a 12-33-1 overall record into Wednesday's game ... the Rockets are 1-18 in MAC action after losing three games at Ball State (April 28-29) ... sophomore Vicki Nelson leads the Rockets at the plate, with a batting average of .314 ... pitchers Colette McMasters, a senior, and freshman Kim Pettitt have split the bulk of the time in the circle ... McMasters is 5-15 with a team-low 2.47 ERA, while Pettitt has a 5-14 mark and an ERA of 3.61 ... last year, UT went 19-36 overall and 2-22 in the MAC, finishing sixth in the West Division ... Michelle Fagnant has a record of 42-95-1 in her third year with the Rockets ... she is 149-160-1 in her seventh year as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletic web site is www.utrockets.com.
Detroit enters the week with an overall mark of 20-16, and the Titans are 7-5 in Horizon League play after winning three of four games last weekend ... UDM split with Cleveland State Saturday (April 27) before sweeping Youngstown State the next day ... the Titans are scheduled to play a Tuesday (April 30) twinbill at Western Michigan before hosting Wayne State for two games on Wednesday (May 1) ... UDM's 20 victories are the most for the program since 1994 ... senior Dayna Rodrigues leads the team with a .349 batting average and 25 RBI, while classmate Krista Peters is hitting .326 ... Peters is also the Titans' top pitcher, with a 9-6 record and a 1.48 ERA ... a year ago, UDM went 15-33 overall and 4-8 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the HL) ... head coach Bob Wilkerson has an overall record of 84-186 in his sixth year, all in Detroit ... the school's athletic web site is www.DetroitTitans.com.
Ohio currently has a 23-21 record, and the Bobcats are 12-8 in MAC play ... OU broke a six-game losing streak with a three-game sweep of visiting Miami over the weekend ... the 'Cats play at Youngstown State Tuesday, and have a Saturday (May 4) double-dip at Marshall before hosting the Falcons ... senior Tiffany Bolton is hitting .374 on the year, while classmate Kim Stinson has a .365 batting average and is tied for the team lead with five homers ... senior pitcher Val Wood has a 7-7 record and a team-low 1-86 ERA, while senior Heather Hagen is 8-8 with a 2.33 ERA ... last season, the Bobcats finished with a 32-23 overall mark and a 15-9 MAC record ... head coach Roanna Brazier has a record of 149-166 in her sixth year, all with the Bobcats ... the school's web site is www.ohiobobcats.com.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead Toledo, by a 38-31 count in the all-time series between the teams ... BGSU has won the last nine meetings, including a pair of games last Monday (April 22) in the Glass City ... BGSU won by scores of 3-1 and 10-8, with the latter victory coming in nine innings, at Scott Park ... last season, the Falcons won three games in Bowling Green (7-1 and 9-1 on March 27; 4-3 on May 1) ... BGSU head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw has a 9-0 record vs. her alma mater.
The Falcons hold a 20-5 lead over Detroit in that series ... BGSU has won nine consecutive games from the Titans, including a pair of 6-2 wins at the BGSU Softball Field last year (April 16, 2001) ... in the last meetings in the Motor City, the Falcons won by scores of 5-3 and 8-6 (April 5, 2000) ... Ross-Shaw is 6-0 against the Titans as a head coach.
BGSU leads Ohio, 41-30, in that series, and the Falcons captured all three meetings last year ... BG won a pair of regular-season games at the BGSU Softball Field (3-2 and 3-0; April 10, 2001), then won a 6-1, 10-inning decision in the MAC Tournament in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (May 11) ... in the last meetings in Athens, the Bobcats won the first two games before BG won the closer of a three-game series (May 5-6, 2000) ... Ross-Shaw has a record of 5-5 vs. Ohio in her head-coaching career.
LAST TIME(S) OUT: The Falcons went 4-3 last week, all in MAC play ... on Monday (April 22), BGSU posted a pair of 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 ... the Brown and Orange split a Wednesday (April 24) DH at Ball State, losing, 6-2, before rebounding for a 9-1 win ... on Saturday (April 27), Buffalo swept the host Falcons by scores of 6-1 and 7-4 ... BGSU came back for a Sunday (April 28) win, beating the Bulls by a 10-7 score on "Senior Day" at the BGSU Softball Field.
QUITE A SENIOR DAY: On "Senior Day," senior Renee Rosemeier had a stellar effort at the plate ... Rosemeier had the first four-hit game of her career Sunday (April 28), going 4-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI, in the Falcons' 10-7 win over Buffalo ... she had seven career three-hit games entering Sunday's game ... three of Rosemeier's hits were doubles, giving her a total of 10 for the third consecutive season ... Rosemeier, who saw a 12-game hitting streak snapped at Ball State Wednesday (April 24), still is hitting .434 (23-of-53) over the last 16 games.
KERNAHAN STILL HITTING: 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 weeks ... Kernahan went 10-for-23 at the plate in last week's seven games, hitting a team-high .435 ... five of those 10 hits were doubles, as she led the Falcons in slugging pct. (.652) and was second in on-base pct. (.480) ... in Sunday's win over Buffalo, she went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBI ... Kernahan currently has a career-best 11-game hitting streak, and is batting .486 (17-of-35) during that time ... she had at least one RBI in all three games of the UB series ... Kernahan leads the Falcons with a .415 batting avg. in MAC games, and also paces the team in slugging (.537) and OBP (.442) in conference contests ... prior to the current streak, Kernahan was hitting .175 with a total of eight hits in 21 games this season ... she has raised her season average by 106 points to .281, good for fifth on the Falcons, during that time.
RUN SUPPORT: The Falcons scored nine or more runs just twice in the season's first 37 games ... but, BGSU has scored at least nine runs in three of the last six contests ... BG tied a season high with 10 runs in the second win at Toledo (April 22), then matched that total six days later vs. Buffalo ... in that UB game, the Falcons pounded out a season-high 15 hits.
YOU LOOK MIGHTY FAMILIAR...: Fans of both the Falcons and Rockets should recognized some familiar faces in the opposing dugout at Scott Park Wednesday ... all three members of the BGSU coaching staff -- head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw and assistants Lena Richards and Tami (Johnston) Summers -- earned All-MAC honors for Toledo, and Summers returned to her alma mater as head coach in 1998 and 1999 ... UT's current head coach, Michelle Fagnant, served as associate head coach under Summers during those two years ... one of Fagnant's current assistants, Jeni Leis, played four seasons for the Falcons, completing her career on the 1993 MAC title-winning team.
DOUBLE YOUR FUN: Junior shortstop Libby Voshell 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 ... senior Natalie Phillips had three doubles in the Ball State DH, and added one more vs. Buffalo, to raise her total to 14 on the year ... Voshell and Phillips rank first and second, respectively, in the MAC ... 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 fifth with 30.
NOTING THE FALCONS: Junior Kandice Machain has an eight-game hitting streak, and has gone 13-of-34 (.382) at the plate in that time ... Machain has retaken the team batting lead, and is hitting .324 on the year ... senior Renee Rosemeier and junior Libby Voshell are batting .317 and .315, respectively ... Machain paces BG in hits (48), triples (four), homers (three), at-bats (148), total bases (72) and slugging pct. (.486) ... Rosemeier has a team-high 21 RBI on the season, while Voshell leads the Falcons in doubles (15), on-base pct. (.393) and walks (15) ... senior Natalie Phillips leads the team with 21 runs scored, while Machain has 20 ... in the circle, senior Jessie Milosek leads the Brown and Orange with eight wins and an ERA of 2.37 ... Milosek has a record of 8-6, while senior Andrea Genter is 3-2 with a 3.18 ERA ... junior McKenna Houle has a 5-11 mark and a 3.58 ERA ... in MAC games, sophomore Jenifer Kernahan is hitting .415 in 13 games, while Rosemeier and Voshell are batting .357 and .333, respectively ... Milosek is 4-5 with a 2.58 ERA in league action ... the Falcons finished the home portion of the season with a 7-7-1 record at the BGSU Softball Field, including a 5-6 MAC slate ... BG won three of last week's four road games, and the Falcons are now 6-9 on the road (4-6 in MAC action) ... junior Crystal Wilson has 19 RBI on the season, tied for third on the team ... she leads the Falcons with 15 two-out RBI this spring.
