Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcon Softball Schedule Announced For 2004
September 06, 2003 | Softball
Sept. 6, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball schedule has been announced for the 2004 season. The Falcons of sixth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw are slated to play in four spring tournaments before diving into the Mid-American Conference schedule in late March.
The 2004 season will mark the Falcons' second campaign in the MAC's West Division after five seasons in the league's East Division.
BGSU is slated to play in tournaments hosted by Mercer (Feb. 27-29), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (March 5-7), the College of Charleston (March 12-14) and Georgia Tech (March 19-21). Following Georgia Tech's Buzz Classic, the Falcons will return north and play a midweek doubleheader at Michigan (March 24) before opening the MAC portion of the schedule with a three-game road series vs. arch-rival Toledo that weekend (March 27-28).
The Falcons then open the home portion of the 2004 slate with a March 31 doubleheader vs. Marshall. That marks the first of 11 scheduled home dates, adding up to a total of 18 games slated to be played at the BGSU Softball Field.
The Falcons are scheduled to play a three-game series against each of the other six West Division teams. BGSU played all four of the other West Division top-five teams on the road last year, but the Falcons will face each of those four schools at home in 2004. The Brown and Orange will host divisional foes Ball State (April 17-18), Central Michigan (May 8-9), Northern Illinois (April 24-25) and Western Michigan (April 9-10), while travelling to Eastern Michigan (May 1-2) and UT.
Ross-Shaw's team will play three teams from the East Division, with the home doubleheader against the Thundering Herd on March 31 and road twinbills vs. both Buffalo (April 14) and Kent State (April 21).
East Division schools Akron, Miami and Ohio do not appear on the Falcons' 2004 MAC regular-season schedule.
In addition to Michigan, BGSU is slated to play non-conference doubleheaders at IPFW (April 3), Indiana (April 4) and Detroit (April 29) while hosting Oakland (April 12) and Cleveland State (April 27) for twinbills.
The MAC Tournament will be held at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio, on May 13-15. The Falcons will be looking to return to the league tournament for the second consecutive year and the fifth time in six seasons.
The Falcons finished the 2003 campaign with an overall record of 26-26-1, and BGSU posted a MAC ledger of 15-9 to finish fourth in the West Division and fifth overall. In the 2003 MAC Tournament, the fifth-seeded Falcons opened with a 7-2 win over #4 Northern Illinois, in the process making Ross-Shaw the winningest coach in school history. The Brown and Orange then dropped a narrow, 2-1 decision to top-seeded Marshall and a 3-0 game to Central Michigan.
The complete 2004 schedule follows:
BGSU 2004 SOFTBALL SCHEDULE
FEBRUARY
Fri.-Sun. 27-29 Mercer University Classic (Macon, Ga.)
MARCH
Fri.-Sun. 5-7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Tourn. (Corpus Christi, Texas) Fri.-Sun. 12-14 College of Charleston Tourn. (Charleston, S.C.) Fri.-Sun. 19-21 Georgia Tech Buzz Classic (Marietta, Ga.) Wed. 24 at Michigan (DH) .............................. 2:00 Sat. 27 at Toledo (DH) * .............................. 1:00 Sun. 28 at Toledo * ................................... 1:00 Wed. 31 MARSHALL (DH) * ............................... 2:00
APRIL
Sat. 3 at IPFW (DH) ................................. 12:00 Sun. 4 at Indiana (DH) .............................. 12:00 Fri. 9 WESTERN MICHIGAN (DH) * ....................... 2:00 Sat. 10 WESTERN MICHIGAN * ............................ 1:00 Mon. 12 OAKLAND (DH) .................................. 3:00 Wed. 14 at Buffalo (DH) * ............................. 2:00 Sat. 17 BALL STATE (DH) * ............................. 1:00 Sun. 18 BALL STATE * .................................. 1:00 Wed. 21 at Kent State (DH) * .......................... 2:00 Sat. 24 NORTHERN ILLINOIS (DH) * ...................... 1:00 Sun. 25 NORTHERN ILLINOIS * ........................... 1:00 Tue. 27 CLEVELAND STATE (DH) .......................... 3:00 Thu. 29 at Detroit (DH) ............................... 3:00
MAY
Sat. 1 at Eastern Michigan (DH) * .................... 1:00 Sun. 2 at Eastern Michigan * ......................... 1:00 Sat. 8 CENTRAL MICHIGAN (DH) * ....................... 1:00 Sun. 9 CENTRAL MICHIGAN * ............................ 1:00 Thu.-Sat. 13-15 MAC Tournament (Firestone Stadium; Akron, Ohio)All times p.m. and local to site HOME games played at the BGSU Softball Field
