Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
OHIO
Falcons Close Season With Split At Ohio
May 05, 2002 | Softball
May 5, 2002
ATHENS, Ohio - Senior Holly Frantz homered in her final collegiate game as the Bowling Green State University softball team posted a 9-5 win at Ohio University Sunday afternoon (May 5). The victory gave the Falcons a split of the Mid-American Conference doubleheader at the Ohio Softball Field.
Ohio had captured the first game of the twinbill by a 6-5 score. The Falcons end the 2002 season with an overall record of 22-25-1 and a MAC mark of 11-13. Ohio is 26-22 and 15-9, respectively.
In the opening game, the Bobcats broke on top with single runs in each of the first two innings off senior Jessie Milosek. In the first inning, Tiffany Bolton doubled home Kiersten Scrima to put the hosts on the board. Then, in the second, Georgia Villard singled and eventually scored on a BGSU error.
The Falcons cut the deficit in half in the third inning. Sophomore Jenifer Kernahan led off with a double off the wall in right-centerfield, the Falcons' first hit of the game off Heather Hagen. Kernahan was retired on a grounder by sophomore Jody Johnson, but Johnson took second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by freshman Sam Moore.
The hosts, however, batted around in the fourth inning, taking a 5-1 lead. Kim Stinson led off with a double and scored on a one-out triple by Erin Chapman. Johnson moved from third base to the pitcher's circle, and got Jennifer Tisevich to hit an infield grounder. But, Chapman was safe at home, beating the BG throw to the plate, and the 'Cats led by a 4-1 count.
Kelli Bankert's two-out infield single scored Tisevich, as Kernahan made a diving stop of the ball on the third-base line, but had no play.
BGSU answered with three runs in the top of the fifth. The rally started with a Kernahan strikeout, as the sophomore reached base when the third-strike pitch got away from the catcher, Villard. After a Johnson liner produced the first out, Moore drew a walk to send pinch-runner Liz Tuza to second.
Moore was the first of five consecutive Falcons to reach base. Junior Kandice Machain singled to left-center to score Tuza. As Moore dug for third on the play, the OU throw sailed into the Bobcat dugout. Moore was awarded home, while Machain advanced to third.
Then, senior Natalie Phillips hit a one-hopper off the wall in right-center as Machain scored easily on the double. The Bobcats issued an intentional walk to junior Libby Voshell, bringing cleanup hitter Renee Rosemeier to the plate. The Falcon senior beat out an infield single to load the bases and chase Hagen. Reliever Val Wood got a double-play grounder to get out of the inning, but the Falcons were within a single run.
The hosts tacked on a run in the bottom half of the fifth, on a walk, a sacrifice bunt and a Tisevich single up the middle.
The Brown and Orange had opportunities to tie the game in the final two frames, but could not quite get over the hump. In the sixth, Frantz singled, took second on a Kernahan sac bunt and went to third on a Johnson single. But, Wood got a grounder for the second out, with Frantz forced to hold at third. She got another grounder for the third out.
Johnson retired the Bobcats in the bottom of the sixth, and the Falcons quickly got a run in the top of the seventh. Phillips led off the inning by beating out a bunt for a base hit, and she took second on a Voshell single. Then, Rosemeier grounded the ball back to the pitcher, but Wood's throw to third base was wide and rolled down the left-field line. Phillips scored on the error, with Rosemeier and Voshell taking second and third, respectively.
Ohio issued another intentional walk, this time to junior Crystal Wilson, to load the bases with no outs. But, Wood got out of the jam, getting an infield popup, a grounder that produced a force out at the plate and another infield grounder that ended the game.
Hagen got the win with four-and-a-third innings of five-hit ball. She walked three batters and had three strikeouts. Wood picked up the save, giving up one (unearned) run and four hits in two-and-two-thirds innings.
Milosek (8-7) suffered the loss, allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) in three-and-a-third innings. She struck out two Bobcats and did not issue a walk. Johnson allowed two runs and five hits in two-and-two-thirds innings, with two walks and a strikeout.
At the plate, Phillips was the lone Falcon with a pair of hits, going 2-for-4. Seven other Falcons had one hit each. Wilson, the only starter without a hit, reached base twice via walks.
Bankert had three hits for the hosts, who outhit BGSU by a 12-9 margin, while Scrima and Chapman each had two safeties.
In the nightcap, the hosts again struck for a run in the opening inning. After Hagen and Bolton drew back-to-back walks with two outs, Bankert singled off senior Andrea Genter to give OU a 1-0 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Brown and Orange exploded for a six-run second inning off OU starter Wood. Wood retired the first batter of the inning, but a Frantz double into the right-field corner was the first of six-straight BGSU hits.
Kernahan singled to score Frantz, with Kernahan taking second on the throw to the plate. Then, Johnson had an RBI single, and moved all the way to third on an errant Ohio throw from the outfield.
Redshirt freshman Marla Murphy successfully bunted for a single, with Johnson scoring on the play, and Machain produced the fourth consecutive BG single, chasing Wood and bringing on Kristie Howe.
Phillips greeted Howe with her second double of the day to score Murphy. The Bobcats finally got the second out of the inning, but Rosemeier then lined a ball to left-center to score Machain. Rosemeier, running all the way, turned an apparent single into a double, for the seventh BGSU hit of the inning.
The Bobcats responded with three runs in the bottom of the second, with the big blow being a two-run Tisevich double. Junior McKenna Houle relieved Genter, and allowed a double to Scrima that cut the lead to 6-4. That hit, however, was one of just three surrendered by Houle on the day.
The game remained 6-4 for several innings. The Falcons got out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the fourth, as Houle got Hagen to hit a grounder to Voshell at short. Voshell fired to first to retire Hagen for the second out. Then, as Chapman broke for home after Voshell's throw, first baseman Phillips fired to catcher Frantz, who blocked the plate and applied the tag for the double play.
Frantz then gave the Falcons some breathing room in the fifth. After Wilson's two-out double off the wall in left, Frantz hit a ball over that wall for her second career homer, giving the Brown and Orange an 8-4 edge.
The Falcons got another run in the sixth. Murphy drew a one-out walk, and took second on Machain's infield single. Machain was retired on a Phillips grounder, but Murphy advanced to third on the play. Then, she came home on Voshell's single up the middle.
The hosts scored the game's final run in the bottom of the sixth, on a walk, a single and a groundout, but Ohio could get no closer than four runs.
Houle (7-11) picked up her third consecutive win with five-and-two-thirds innings of three-hit ball. She allowed one run, walking two batters and fanning one.
Wood took the loss, giving up six runs and seven hits in three-and-two-thirds innings. Howe allowed three runs in three-and-a-third innings.
The Falcons got multi-hit games from Frantz and Machain, as BG outhit the hosts, 11-6. Frantz was 2-for-4, scoring a pair of runs and driving in two runs. Machain was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Murphy was 1-for-2 with a walk, an RBI and two runs in the game, while Rosemeier had a pair of RBI in her final game.
The doubleheader marked the final collegiate games for BGSU's six-member senior class of Frantz, Genter, Milosek, Phillips, Rosemeier and Rebekah Tipton
The Falcons ended the season in a third-place tie in the MAC's East Division. A total of 13 players that saw action this year, including six positional starters, were underclassmen.
