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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons To Host Akron In Three-Game Weekend Set
April 15, 2003 | Softball
April 15, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Release & Stats (11 pages) in PDF Format
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The Bowling Green State University softball team, riding a nine-game winning streak, looks to continue that recent success in this weekend's Mid-American Conference series ... the Falcons (18-17-1, 9-5 MAC) of fifth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw face the University of Akron for a three-game set, beginning with a single game Friday (April 18) at 3:30 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field.
Following Friday's game, the Falcons and Zips return to the BGSU Softball Field for a Saturday (April 19) twinbill ... first pitch of Saturday's first game is slated for 1:00 p.m. ... the UA series begins a season-ending stretch in which seven of BG's final 10 MAC contests will be played at home.
TIGHT RACE
Heading into the week, BGSU is in fourth place in the MAC's West Division with a 9-5 league record ... however, the first- through fourth-place teams are separated by just a half-game in the West ... first-place Western Michigan is 9-4 in league play, followed by Central Michigan (8-4) and Northern Illinois (6-3) ... the top-six teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the MAC Tournament, which will be held from Thursday-Saturday, May 8-10, at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio ... the top-two teams from each division, plus the next two teams with the best winning percentage, (regardless of division) will qualify for the double-elimination tournament ... complete MAC standings and upcoming games can be found on page 11 of the pdf version of this release.
VRABEL NAMED PITCHER OF THE WEEK YET AGAIN
Falcon freshman Liz Vrabel has been named the MAC Pitcher of the Week, the conference office announced Monday (April 14) ... she earns the honor for the third time in her Falcon career, and the third time in as many weeks ... Vrabel shares this week's honor with Western Michigan's Laura Stewart ... Vrabel, a native of Allison Park, Pa. (North Allegheny HS), had a 3-0 record and an earned-run average of just 0.33 on the week, allowing only one earned run in 21 innings of work ... she pitched three complete games, upping her total to 13 this year ... Vrabel had a pair of four-hitters in wins over Miami Wednesday (April 9) and Ball State Saturday (April 12), allowing no earned runs in each case ... she came back to pick up another victory vs. BSU Sunday (April 13), allowing one earned run and seven hits ... in that Sunday game, the earned run allowed by Vrabel was her first in 38 1/3 innings ... on the week, Vrabel allowed opponents to hit just .190 against her ... this season, she now has a record of 11-6 and a 1.25 ERA ... Vrabel leads the Falcons in wins, ERA, appearances (21), starts (15), complete games, shutouts (seven), innings (106.1) and strikeouts (98) ... opponents are batting just .185 against her on the year ... Vrabel has won her last five decisions, and is 5-0 with an ERA of just 0.19 in the month of April.
KERNAHAN NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Also on Monday (April 14), the Mid-American Conference office announced junior catcher Jenifer Kernahan as the MAC Player of the Week ... the league honor is the first of her career ... Kernahan, a native of Perrysburg, Ohio (Perrysburg HS), hit .500 as the Falcons went a perfect 5-0 last week to increase the team's current winning streak to nine games ... Kernahan led the Falcons in batting average, hits (seven), at-bats (14) and on-base percentage (.563), and tied for the team lead in doubles (two), walks (two) and RBI (four) on the week ... Kernahan went 4-for-5 in the Miami doubleheader, including a 3-for-3 performance with a pair of doubles in the first game ... she saw a six-game hitting streak come to an end Sunday at Ball State, but drew a walk and scored a run in that BG win ... in the field, Kernahan was perfect in 25 fielding chances in the five games ... on the season, she is now hitting .295 with a team-high 21 RBI ... Kernahan is batting .325 with a BG-best 10 RBI in MAC games.
HEAD COACH LEIGH ROSS-SHAW
Leigh Ross-Shaw is in her fifth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 129-106-2 (.548) ... Ross-Shaw, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, has a league mark of 67-41 (.620) ... she guided the Brown and Orange to a MAC East Division title in 2001 and a co-championship in 2000 ... Ross-Shaw 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 seven wins shy of the school's all-time leader, Jacquie Joseph (136-123 from 1989-93) ... Ross-Shaw's total of 67 MAC wins places her third behind Joseph (78-71) and Rachel Miller-Reif (71-84 from 1994-98).
ASSISTANT COACHES
Steve Babinski is in his first campaign as an assistant to Ross-Shaw ... Babinski, a graduate of Grace (Ind.) College, was a standout baseball player there ... he has spent the past several years coaching at the Bowling Green Christian Academy ... Tami Summers is in her second season as a BGSU assistant ... 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.
LAST TIME(S) OUT
The Falcons, after losing 10 of the previous 11 games, have now won the last nine contests, including five last week ... the Brown and Orange swept a Wednesday (April 9) doubleheader from visiting Miami, winning by scores of 2-1 and 3-1 ... then, BGSU headed to Muncie and posted a three-game weekend sweep of Ball State ... the Falcons picked up 1-0 and 9-4 wins on Saturday (April 12), then completed the sweep with a 5-2 triumph Sunday (April 13).
THE OPPONENT
Akron enters the week with an overall record of 16-16, and the Zips will come to BGSU with a 5-8 MAC record ... UA plays a Tuesday (April 15) non-conference doubleheader at Robert Morris prior to facing the Falcons ... last week, UA swept nationally-ranked Ohio State in a midweek doubleheader, winning both games by a 1-0 score ... but, the Zips dropped three games to visiting Miami in league play over the weekend ... UA enters the Robert Morris games with a record of 5-7 on the road, including a 2-4 mark in MAC road contests ... individually, senior Tracee McCoy leads the team with a .351 batting average, eight homeruns and 29 RBI, while classmate Melissa Hurley is hitting .302 on the year ... in the circle, sophomore Tina McCauley is 8-6 with a 2.35 ERA, while freshman Megan MacKenzie has a 7-9 record and a 3.02 ERA ... last year, the Zips went 30-17 overall and won the MAC's East Division with a conference record of 18-6 ... Deanna Parks has a record of 189-147 in her seventh year at UA ... she is 249-200 in her 10th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.GoZips.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead the all-time series with Akron by a 33-17-1 margin, and the Falcons hold a 12-8-1 advantage in home games vs. the Zips ... the teams split a doubleheader in last year's two meetings, at the BGSU Softball Field (April 10, 2002) ... UA took the first game by a 5-1 margin, before the Falcons rebounded for a 3-2 win in the nightcap ... since Akron joined the MAC for the 1993 season, BGSU holds a 21-10 advantage, including a 9-6 edge in home games vs. the Zips.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons enter the week with a record of 18-17-1 ... BGSU is 7-3 in home games, 6-9-1 on the road and 5-5 in neutral-site action ... as a team, the Brown and Orange is hitting .261, while the opponents are batting .234 ... freshman Gina Rango is hitting a team-high .398 on the season, while senior Libby Voshell is batting .330 ... junior Jenifer Kernahan upped her batting average by 31 points last week and is now hitting .295, while freshman Lindsay Heimrich is batting .282 ... Voshell has five homers on the season, while Rango has four and senior Kandice Machain three ... Rango has scored 26 runs and has 10 doubles and 18 RBI ... she leads the team in the first two categories and ranks second in RBI ... Kernahan has knocked in a team-high 21 runs ... Voshell has scored 22 runs and Machain 19 ... those two players and Rango are the only Falcons to have started all 36 games to date, while Kernahan and senior Crystal Wilson each have made 35 starts ... Falcon pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.28 this season, to the opponents' 2.40 ... freshman Liz Vrabel has a 1.25 ERA, and has a record of 11-6 with five complete-game shutouts ... she leads the Falcons with 98 strikeouts ... sophomore Kristen Anderson is 2-1 with a save and an ERA of 1.36 ERA, while junior Jody Johnson has a 4-4 record, one save and an ERA of 2.68 ... Vrabel leads the Falcons with 13 complete games, and has allowed opponents to hit just .185 against her.
JOHNSON EARNS TOP ACADEMIC HONOR
Junior Jody Johnson has earned one of the top academic honors in the BGSU department of athletics ... Johnson was named the 2002-03 Female Junior Scholar-Athlete of the Year ... the honor was announced at the 2003 BGSU Scholar-Athlete Honors Banquet Sunday evening (April 13) ... men's golf's Craig Pickerel was named the Male Junior Scholar-Athlete of the Year ... Craig Jarrett (football) and Katrina Kerns (women's track and cross country) were the seniors honored at the banquet ... Johnson, a native of LaGrange, Ohio, currently maintains a 3.50 grade point average as a marketing major.
WINNING STREAK
The Falcons have won nine consecutive games, just one shy of the school record ... BGSU won 10 consecutive games from April 10-20, 1993, and the 2000 team tied that record (March 4-11, 2000).
WINNING STREAK II
The Falcons' nine-game winning streak has come entirely in MAC play, tying a school record for consecutive conference victories in the same season ... BGSU has had three longer streaks, including a 12-game MAC winning streak, but each of the three streaks came over parts of two seasons ... in that 12-game streak, the Falcons won the final nine games of the 1988 campaign, en route to a MAC championship and an NCAA regional appearance, then won the first three league contests the next spring ... BGSU also had an 11-game MAC win streak over parts of two seasons, winning the last six league games in 1987 and the first five in 1988 ... and, the Falcons put together a 10-game MAC winning streak over the end of the 1997 and the start of the 1998 seasons ... the complete list follows:
BGSU'S MAC WINNING STREAKS
Games - Dates (Notes) 12 - May 6, 1988-Apr. 1, 1989 (last nine of '88, first three of '89) 11 - Apr. 18, 1987-Apr. 8, 1988 (final six of '87, first five of '88) 10 - Apr. 25, 1997-March 28, 1998 (final seven of '97, first three of '98) 9 - Apr. 2, 2003-present
THE END OF A LONG STREAK
Ball State's fourth-inning run in Sunday's (April 13) game was the first earned run against Liz Vrabel in the month of April, ending the freshman's streak of 38 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run ... on the season, Vrabel now has an ERA of 1.25, and that number drops to 1.17 in MAC games.
THE HONORS KEEP ROLLING IN...
The Mid-American Conference Player- and Pitcher-of-the-Week awards earned by Jenifer Kernahan and Liz Vrabel, respectively, are just the latest on a rapidly growing list this spring ... the two league weekly honors are the fifth and sixth for the Falcons this season to date ... junior Jody Johnson was the MAC Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 24, while freshman Lindsay Heimrich earned player-of-the-week honors on March 18 and Vrabel garnered pitching honors in each of the last two weeks (March 31 and April 7) ... early records are sketchy, but BGSU's total of six honors this year is the most since at least the 1995 season.
OFF TO A GOOD START
Falcon freshman Liz Vrabel certainly has seemed to enjoy pitching at home ... after picking up a win over Miami Wednesday (April 9), Vrabel now has a 4-0 record and an ERA of 0.00 in games at the BGSU Softball Field ... she has struck out 27 batters and allowed only 15 hits in 30 2/3 innings at home this season to date.
HOMER HAPPY
The Falcons now have a team total of 14 homeruns on the year, surpassing the total for all of last season ... in fact, that total is already the fourth-highest seasonal total in school history, and would have set the school record just five years ago ... BGSU never had more than eight homers in a season before hitting 19 as a team in both 1999 and 2000 ... then, the Falcons had a school-record 21 round-trippers in 2001, before hitting 11 last year.
VOSHELL ON THE HOMER LIST
Senior Libby Voshell will enter the Akron series ranked third in school history in career homeruns ... Voshell has five homers this season, tying her for third place on the BGSU single-season list, and she is in sole possession of third place on the career list, with 12 round-trippers ... Lynsey Ebel (1998-2001) holds the BGSU record with 14 career homers, while Jen Domschot (13 from 1999-2001) ranks second.
VOSHELL KEEPS MOVING UP CAREER LISTS
Senior Libby Voshell continues to move up a number of BGSU career lists ... as mentioned, she is third on the list for homers ... Voshell now has 41 doubles to move into a tie for second on that Falcon list ... she has equalled the career total of Angie Domschot (1998-2001), and is six behind record-holder Dena Romstadt (1990-93) ... Voshell also ranks among the career leaders in runs batted in (77; T-sixth), hits (145; 13th), walks (47; T-eighth) and batting average (.280; 18th).
OTHERS ON CAREER CHARTS
In addition to Voshell, several other Falcons can be found on the school's career charts ... senior Kandice Machain hit her sixth career homerun at Ball State, moving her into a tie for ninth place on that BGSU career list ... junior Jenifer Kernahan has five career homers to tie for 11th, while freshman Gina Rango is deadlocked for 14th with four HRs ... Machain is also on the school lists for doubles (22; T-11th), triples (seven; T-12th), runs scored (74; 13th) and batting average (.285; 15th) ... senior McKenna Houle is ranked on every pitching list, including appearances (79; seventh), games started (55; ninth), innings (376 2/3; ninth), wins (30; T-sixth), strikeouts (192; fifth), saves (two; T-ninth), shutouts (10; fifth) and ERA (2.21; ninth) ... junior Jody Johnson is on the career lists for strikeouts (110; 11th) and saves (three; T-seventh) ... Liz Vrabel has moved onto the career strikeout list ... she has 98 K's, good for 13th place.
NOTING THE FALCONS
Freshman Gina Rango is tied for second in the Mid-American Conference with 10 doubles, and is third with 45 hits ... Rango is fourth in the league in runs scored (26) ... senior Libby Voshell is tied for fourth in homeruns (five) and deadlocked for fourth in doubles (nine) ... Rango and Voshell are fourth and sixth, respectively, in total bases ... freshman Liz Vrabel is second among MAC pitchers in both wins (11) and strikeouts (98) ... Vrabel is third in complete-game shutouts (five) and opponent batting average (.185) ... Vrabel had a 3-0 record and an earned-run average of 0.00 during the Falcons' recent six-game homestand (April 2-9) ... also during that homestand, junior Jenifer Kernahan hit .500 (8-for-16) with four doubles and seven RBI ... Rango hit .545 (6-for-11) and Kernahan .500 (5-for-10) in the Ball State series, while Vrabel was 2-0 with an ERA of 0.50 in Muncie ... Kernahan is hitting .440 (11-for-25) with nine RBI during the current nine-game win streak, while senior Kandice Machain is hitting .433 (13-for-30) with a .700 slugging percentage and seven runs scored ... Vrabel is 5-0 with an ERA of 0.19 during that time, and the Falcons have a team ERA of 0.56 in those nine games.
