Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Play Five Of Six Games On Road This Week
April 21, 2003 | Softball
April 21, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Release (11 pages) in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The Bowling Green State University softball team, winners of 11 of the last 12 games, will play seven of the next eight games on the road ... that stretch begins with five road games in six contests this week ... the Falcons (20-18-1, 11-6 Mid-American Conference) of fifth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw will step outside of MAC play for a Tuesday (April 22) doubleheader at Oakland University ... first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at the OU Softball Field.
Then, the Falcons will return home for this week's lone game at the BGSU Softball Field ... BG will host the University of Toledo Wednesday (April 23) in a 3:30 p.m. start.
Following the UT game, the Brown and Orange will travel to DeKalb, Ill., for a three-game weekend series vs. Northern Illinois University ... the Falcons and Huskies are slated to play a Saturday (April 26) doubleheader and a Sunday (April 27) single game, with action beginning at 1:00 p.m. locally (2:00 p.m. Eastern) each day at NIU's Mary M. Bell Field.
TIGHT RACE
Heading into the week, BGSU is in third place in the MAC's West Division with a league record of 11-6 ... however, BG is just a half-game out of first, and the first- through fourth-place teams are separated by only two games in the West ... Western Michigan is 11-5 in league play, followed by Central Michigan (10-5), BGSU and Northern Illinois (7-5) ... BG entered last weekend's action in fourth place, and spent Friday evening in second place ... 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 in the pdf version of this release.
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 131-107-2 (.548) ... Ross-Shaw, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, has a league mark of 69-42 (.622) ... 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 five wins shy of the school's all-time leader, Jacquie Joseph (136-123 from 1989-93) ... Ross-Shaw's total of 69 MAC wins places her third behind Joseph (78-71) and Rachel Miller-Reif (71-84 from 1994-98).
LAST TIME(S) OUT
The Falcons, after losing 10 of the previous 11 games, have now won 11 of the last 12 contests ... BGSU took two of three games from visiting Akron over the weekend ... the Falcons posted a 6-1 win Friday (April 18), before UA snapped BG's 10-game winning streak with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory in Saturday's (April 19) first game ... the Brown and Orange rallied for a 7-3 win in the nightcap.
THE OPPONENTS
Oakland enters the week with an overall record of 17-20-1, and the Golden Grizzlies have a Mid-Continent Conference record of 8-4 ... OU split a four-game series at Southern Utah over the weekend ... the Grizzlies had won six-straight games and 11 of the last 13 contests after winning the opener at SUU, but then dropped two consecutive games ... OU rebounded to win the final contest of the series ... the Grizzlies are 5-1 at home this season ... individually, senior Ericka Burns has a team-best .449 batting average, but has missed the last two weeks ... another senior, Linnea Utecht, is hitting .342 ... in the circle, sophomore Nicole Marzano is 5-3 with a 1.79 ERA, while senior Julie Anderson has a record of 8-9 and an ERA of 2.16 ... Utecht is 4-8 with a 2.61 ERA ... last year, the Golden Grizzlies went 26-38-1 overall and finished 12-8 in the Mid-Con ... OU, in just the program's third season, won the league tournament and advanced to NCAA Regional play ... Mike Tomlinson is in his first season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.ougrizzlies.com.
Toledo currently has an overall record of 7-29, and the Rockets will bring a 4-15 MAC mark into Wednesday's BGSU game ... UT dropped three games at Miami over the weekend, falling to 4-14 on the road this season ... freshman Gina Muratori has a team-high .327 batting average, while sophomore Jessica Horn is hitting .280 ... sophomore pitcher Kim Pettitt has a 3-18 record and a 4.20 ERA this season, while classmate Keri Perkins is 4-11 with a 4.66 ERA ... a season ago, the Rockets went 13-36-1 overall and 2-21 in MAC action ... Jo Ann Gordon is in her first season at UT ... she has a record of 56-82 in her fourth season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.utrockets.com.
Northern Illinois enters the week's action with a 17-17 record ... the Huskies are 7-5 in the MAC, heading into a Wednesday (April 23) doubleheader at Kent State ... last weekend, NIU won the opener of a three-game series vs. East Division-leading Marshall, but dropped the final two contests to the Thundering Herd ... the Huskies have played only five home games to date, and are 2-3 ... the BGSU series will begin an eight-game homestand to close the regular season for the Huskies ... sophomore Kathy Dearborn leads a balanced hitting attack, with a .312 batting average and a team-high four homers ... senior Lisa Mattke is hitting .304 ... junior Amy Krahula is 9-6 with a team-leading 1.81 ERA, while Dearborn has a 7-8 mark and an ERA of 2.80 ... Donna Martin has a record of 261-208-1 in her ninth year as a collegiate head coach, all with the Huskies ... the school's athletics web site is www.niuhuskies.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead the all-time series with Oakland by a 2-0-1 margin, and BGSU is 1-0 in road games vs. the Golden Grizzlies ... the Falcons captured a 6-0 decision in Rochester in OU's first season (April 2, 2000), and BG picked up a 3-2 win last year before the teams' second game was tied, 2-2, when it was called due to darkness after six innings at the BGSU Softball Field (April 1, 2002).
BGSU holds a 43-31 advantage in the series with Toledo, and the Falcons have won the last 12 meetings ... BG is 24-11 in home games vs. UT, and the Falcons currently have a 10-game home winning streak in the series, including a pair of wins (2-1, 13-5 in six innings) at the BGSU Softball Field several weeks ago (April 6) ... UT's last win in the series came on April 28, 1998, and the Rockets' most recent win in BG came on April 25, 1997.
The Falcons hold an 8-7 advantage in the series with Northern Illinois, and the teams have not met since the 2001 MAC Tournament ... NIU won that meeting, 2-1, in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (May 10, 2001) ... BGSU is 3-2 in games played in DeKalb ... the Falcons and Huskies have not met in regular-season play since 2000, and the teams have not played a regular-season series at Mary M. Bell Field since the 1998 campaign ... NIU has won four of the seven meetings since the Huskies rejoined the MAC prior to the 1997-98 academic year.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons enter the week with a record of 20-18-1 ... BGSU is 9-4 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 .265, while the opponents are batting .228 ... freshman Gina Rango is hitting a team-high .395 on the season, while senior Libby Voshell is batting .330 ... junior Jenifer Kernahan has upped her batting average by 38 points over the last two weeks and is now hitting .302, while freshman Lindsay Heimrich is batting .282 ... Voshell has five homers on the season, while Rango has four and Kernahan and senior Kandice Machain each have three ... Rango has scored 28 runs and has 11 doubles and 20 RBI ... she leads the team in the first two categories and ranks second in RBI ... Kernahan has knocked in a team-high 26 runs ... Voshell has scored 26 runs and Machain 21 ... those two players and Rango are the only Falcons to have started all 39 games to date, while Kernahan and senior Crystal Wilson each have made 38 starts ... Falcon pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.28 this season, to the opponents' 2.52 ... freshman Liz Vrabel has a 1.34 ERA, and has a record of 12-7 with five complete-game shutouts ... she leads the Falcons with 115 strikeouts ... sophomore Kristen Anderson is 2-1 with a save and an ERA of 1.36, while junior Jody Johnson has a 4-4 record, two saves and an ERA of 2.56 ... Vrabel leads the Falcons with 15 complete games, and has allowed opponents to hit just .178 against her.
SISTER ACT
Sophomore Kristen Anderson will see a familiar face when the Falcons take on Oakland Tuesday (April 22) ... Anderson's sister, Julie, is a senior pitcher for the Golden Grizzlies ... Kristen Anderson, in her first year at BGSU after transferring from Eastern Michigan, has pitched in six games this year, making four starts ... additionally, she has made four starts as the designated player, including a pair of starts at that position in the Akron series.
WINNING STREAK SNAPPED
The Falcons' loss to Akron in Saturday's (April 19) opener snapped a 10-game win streak ... that streak had tied the school record ... BGSU teams also won 10 consecutive games from April 10-20, 1993, and the 2000 team tied that record (March 4-11, 2000).
MORE ON THE STREAK
The Falcons' 10-game winning streak came entirely in MAC play, setting a new school record for consecutive conference victories in the same season ... BGSU had had three prior streaks of 10 or more games, 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.
GRAND SLAM
Senior Crystal Wilson capped a six-run third inning with a grand slam in the Falcons' win over Akron Saturday (April 19) ... the slam was the Falcons' first of the season ... the homer was the second of Wilson's career, and her first since March 17, 2001, vs. Virginia Tech.
I'M WALKIN'
The Falcons entered the Akron series averaging only 1.64 walks per game on the season ... in the three games vs. the Zips, however, BG batters drew 13 bases on balls, an average of 4.33 per game ... senior Libby Voshell and freshman Gina Rango each walked five times in the UA series.
VRABEL'S STREAKS END
Prior to Saturday's opening game, freshman Liz Vrabel had put up some superhuman numbers in home games ... on Saturday, however, Akron rallied for a 4-3 win, snapping several impressive streaks for Vrabel ... the loss snapped an overall six-game win streak for the Falcon hurler, and was her first-ever setback at the BGSU Softball Field ... despite the loss, however, Vrabel still has a 5-1 record and an ERA of just 0.63 in home games ... UA's runs Saturday marked the first earned runs against Vrabel in a home game all year ... opponents are hitting just .135 against her at the BGSU Softball Field, with only 21 hits in over 45 innings.
HOMER HAPPY
BGSU hit two homeruns in Saturday's (April 19) Akron doubleheader, off the bats of junior Jenifer Kernahan and senior Crystal Wilson ... the Falcons now have a team total of 16 homeruns on the year, surpassing the total for all of last season ... in fact, that total is 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 enters the Oakland DH 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 42 doubles to assume sole possession of second on that Falcon list ... she has moved past Angie Domschot (41 from 1998-2001), and is five behind record-holder Dena Romstadt (1990-93) ... Voshell also ranks among the career leaders in runs batted in (78; sixth), hits (147; 12th), walks (52; fifth), runs scored (65, 17th) and batting average (.281; 17th).
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 matched Machain, hitting her sixth career homer vs. Akron, while freshman Gina Rango is deadlocked for 14th with four HRs ... Machain is also on the school lists for doubles (23; 11th), triples (seven; T-12th), runs scored (76; T-12th) and batting average (.287; 14th) ... senior McKenna Houle is ranked on every pitching list, including appearances (80; seventh), games started (56; T-eighth), innings (380 2/3; ninth), wins (31; sixth), strikeouts (192; fifth), saves (two; T-ninth), shutouts (10; fifth) and ERA (2.24; ninth) ... junior Jody Johnson is on the career lists for strikeouts (111; 12th) and saves (four; T-fifth) ... Liz Vrabel has moved onto the career strikeout list ... she has 115 K's, good for 11th place.
NOTING THE FALCONS
Freshman Gina Rango is tied for first in the Mid-American Conference with 11 doubles, and is third with 47 hits ... Rango is fourth in the league in runs scored (28) ... senior Libby Voshell is fourth in walks (19), tied for fourth in doubles (10) and deadlocked for sixth in both homeruns (five) and runs scored (26) ... Rango and Voshell are fourth and seventh, respectively, in total bases ... junior Jenifer Kernahan is fifth in the MAC in RBI (26) ... freshman Liz Vrabel leads the league in opponent batting average (.178) ... she is tied for second among MAC pitchers in wins (12) and ranks third in strikeouts (115) ... Vrabel is tied for third in complete-game shutouts (five) ... in MAC games only, Vrabel leads the conference with 10 complete games ... senior Kandice Machain is hitting .529 over the last five games, going 9-for-17 at the plate ... Rango is hitting .500 (7-for-14) with five runs and six RBI during that same span ... Kernahan is batting .419 (13-for-31) over the last 10 contests, with seven runs and 13 RBI in that time ... redshirt sophomore Marla Murphy has scored four runs in five pinch-running appearances this season ... Vrabel's total of 12 victories is the most in a season by a Falcon pitcher since Garrett Gholston had 14 wins in 1999 ... Kernahan leads the Falcons with 15 RBI in MAC games, and she has 13 RBI in BGSU's 13 home games ... Voshell reached base in all four plate appearances in Friday's win over Akron, going 2-for-2 with a pair of walks ... Machain hit a team-high .400 in the UA series, including a three-hit game in Saturday's opener ... she is second on the team with a .339 batting average in MAC play (behind Rango's .365 average).
HONORS KEEP ROLLING IN
Falcon players have earned Mid-American Conference weekly awards six times this season ... Jenifer Kernahan and Liz Vrabel were the latest on a rapidly growing list this spring, garnering Player- and Pitcher-of-the-Week honors, respectively, last week (April 14) ... 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 three consecutive weeks (March 31, April 7 and April 14) ... early records are sketchy, but BGSU's total of six honors this year is the most since at least the 1995 season.
