Bowling Green State University Athletics
Rango, Vrabel Earn MVP Awards
May 11, 2003 | Softball
May 11, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - A pair of Bowling Green State University softball freshmen have won the team's Most Valuable Player awards for the 2003 season, head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw has announced. Third baseman Gina Rango has been named the Falcons' Most Valuable Offensive Player, while pitcher Liz Vrabel earned the Most Valuable Defensive Player award.
Sophomore Stephanie Finkel was named the team's Most Improved Player, while true sophomore Sara Edwards and redshirt soph Marla Murphy earned the Coaches Award. The awards, with the obvious exception of the Coaches Award, are the result of voting by team members.
Rango, an All-Mid-American Conference First-Team selection, was one of just three Falcons to start all 53 games. She led the team with a .364 batting average, and also paced the Falcons in runs (34), hits (60) and total bases (88), while finishing second in at-bats (165), doubles (13), homeruns (five), runs batted in (27), slugging percentage (.533) and on-base pct. (.401). Her total of 60 hits ties her for the second most in a season in school history, while her total of five homers deadlocks her for fourth on that single-season list.
Vrabel, who was named to the All-MAC Second Team, led Falcon pitchers in nearly every category in 2003. She finished the year with a 17-11 record and an earned-run avearge of just 1.12. Vrabel made 32 appearances, including 24 starts, and had 18 complete games on the year. She threw six complete-game shutouts and was involved in a pair of combined shutouts, and struck out 168 batters in 174 1/3 innings. Vrabel issued only 42 walks and allowed just 28 earned runs on the season. Her strikeout total ranks her second on the BGSU single-season list, while her 17 wins rank her fourth on that chart. She led all MAC pitchers by allowing opponents to bat just .171 against her.
Finkel, a rightfielder, made her initial collegiate start in late March, and started all but three of the final 31 contests. She batted .191 on the year, with three doubles and a triple among her 15 hits. Finkel saw action in a total of 38 games in 2003 after sitting out the 2002 season.
Edwards and Murphy earned the Coaches Award, which goes to the player or players who embody traits such as spirit and a positive attitude, both on and off the field. Edwards played in a total of 10 games, making a pair of starts in leftfield. She had a total of six at-bats on the year. Edwards made two pinch-hitting appearances, and appeared in six games as a pinch runner.
Murphy played in 37 games, making 31 starts. A total of 16 of those starts came at the designated-player position, while 15 were at second base. She batted .208 on the season, scoring nine runs on the year. In six pinch-running appearances on the season, she scored four times.
The Falcons finished the 2003 season with an overall record of 26-26-1, and BGSU went 15-9 in Mid-American Conference play. The Brown and Orange qualified for the MAC Tournament for the fifth time in the last six years.
