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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons To Open 2004 Season At Mercer Tourney
February 26, 2004 | Softball
Feb. 26, 2004
Complete Release & Final 2003 Stats (5 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team heads to Macon, Ga., to open the 2004 season this weekend ... the Falcons of sixth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw will take part in the six-team Comfort Inn Mercer Classic, hosted by Mercer University ... BGSU will play both Wichita State and Oakland on Friday (Feb. 27), and will meet Marist and the host Bears on Saturday (Feb. 28) ... BG will close the tourney with a Sunday (Feb. 29) contest against Morehead State ... the complete schedule follows:
Games played at Sikes Field Friday, Feb. 27: Oakland vs. Wichita State, 9:00 a.m. Bowling Green vs. Wichita State, 11:00 a.m. Bowling Green vs. Oakland, 1:00 p.m. Marist vs. Morehead State, 3:00 p.m. Marist at Mercer, 5:00 p.m. Morehead State at Mercer, 7:00 p.m.Saturday, Feb. 28: Bowling Green vs. Marist, 9:00 a.m. Marist vs. Wichita State, 11:00 a.m. Morehead State vs. Wichita State, 1:00 p.m. Bowling Green at Mercer, 3:00 p.m. Oakland at Mercer, 5:00 p.m. Morehead State vs. Oakland, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 29: Marist vs. Oakland, 10:00 a.m. Bowling Green vs. Morehead State, Noon Wichita State at Mercer, 2:00 p.m.
BGSU is coming off a 2003 season that saw the team go 26-26-1 overall and 15-9 in Mid-American Conference play ... the Falcons finished fourth in the West Division and fifth overall, advancing to the MAC Tournament for the fifth time in six seasons ... Ross-Shaw returns 11 letterwinners, including seven starters, from that squad.
HEAD COACH Leigh Ross-Shaw
Leigh Ross-Shaw begins her sixth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 137-115-2 (.543) ... BGSU's final win in 2003, vs. Northern Illinois in the MAC Tournament, made Ross-Shaw the winningest coach in school history ... Ross-Shaw, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, has a league mark of 73-45 (.619), ranking her second in league victories ... she is just five MAC wins shy of the school record, and is the school leader in MAC winning percentage ... in all games, Ross-Shaw currently ranks second in winning pct., trailing only Sandy Haines (.557; 57-45-3 from 1981-83).
Ross-Shaw, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, guided the Brown and Orange to a MAC East Division title that spring after a co-championship in 2000 ... she was the fastest coach in BG annals to get to 100 overall wins as well as 50 MAC victories ... Ross-Shaw's total of 73 MAC wins places her second behind Jacquie Joseph (78-71 from 1989-93).
Ross-Shaw assumed the top job after two years as BG's assistant coach ... the Ottawa Lake, Mich., native came to the Falcon program in August of 1996 after serving as a high-school head coach, at Notre Dame Academy in Toledo, for four seasons ... Ross-Shaw is the only coach in school history to string together three consecutive winning seasons in MAC play ... the Falcons, who also had a winning league ledger in Ross-Shaw's last year as an assistant (1998), posted four-straight winning MAC marks from 1998-2001.
Ross-Shaw, a 1992 graduate of the University of Toledo, still holds numerous UT and MAC records, and remains the all-time league leader in batting average (.398), at-bats and hits ... she hit a MAC-record .447 as a senior en route to All-America Second-Team honors ... in February of 2001, she was inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame.
ASSISTANT COACHES
Kyle Jamieson enters his first season as a member of Ross-Shaw's staff, serving as an instructor/softball assistant ... a native of Stittsville, Ontario, Jamieson has an extensive playing and coaching background, including a coaching stint with the Danish Men's National Team ... he also has MAC ties, having spent the 2000 season on the staff at Toledo ... Steve Babinski begins his second campaign on Ross-Shaw's staff ... Babinski, a graduate of Grace (Ind.) College, was a standout baseball player there ... he spent several years coaching at the Bowling Green Christian Academy ... Crystal Wilson begins her first season on the coaching staff, after completing a stellar four-year playing career in the Brown and Orange last spring ... originally a walk-on, the Toledo Whitmer product wound up as the Falcons' starting leftfielder as a junior and senior ... she hit grand slams in back-to-back home games last April.
THE OPPONENTS
Wichita State currently has a 5-6 record after going 3-3 in the North Texas/Betlin Roundup last weekend ... the Shockers are coming off a 39-20 season ... that 2003 squad tied the school record for overall wins and set a new record for league victories, going 16-9 in the Missouri Valley Conference ... head coach Tim Walton's team was picked to finish third in the MVC in this year's preseason poll ... Walton is in his second season as a head coach, both in Wichita, and has an overall record of 44-26 ... the school's athletics web site is www.goshockers.com.
Oakland is 4-3 after playing seven games in a three-day span to begin the season ... the Golden Grizzlies went 2-3 in the Tennessee-Martin Tournament, then swept a Monday (Feb. 23) doubleheader at Lambuth ... OU is scheduled to play a Wednesday twinbill at Chattanooga before heading to Macon this weekend ... the Grizzlies, after capturing the last two Mid-Continent Conference titles, return only five letterwinners from last year's 34-26-1 team ... OU went 15-5 in Mid-Con play to place second, but won the conference tourney ... head coach Mike Tomlinson is 38-29-1 in his second season ... the school's athletics web site is www.ougrizzlies.com.
Marist, like BGSU, will open the 2004 season at the Mercer tourney ... the Red Foxes have 10 returning letterwinners from last year's team that finished 10-31 overall and 7-9 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) ... head coach Melissa Tucci enters her fourth year with a 20-66 overall record ... the school's athletics web site is www.GoRedFoxes.com.
Mercer has already played 15 games this spring, and the Bears will enter their own tournament with a 7-8 overall record ... last weekend, Mercer posted a runner-up finish at the Georgia Southern Invitational ... head coach Tony Foti's team has played in eight shutout games to date, winning four and losing four ... last year's MU squad finished 35-23, and had a 14-8 record in Atlantic Sun Conference play ... Foti has a head-coaching record of 63-66 in his third year, all with the Bears ... the school's athletics web site is www.mercerbears.com.
Morehead State is 2-0 after a season-opening sweep of Georgetown (Ky.) College on Feb. 17 ... the Eagles will play a Wednesday (Feb. 25) DH at Northern Kentucky, before heading to Georgia ... MSU is coming off a 10-33-1 campaign which included a 6-14 record in Ohio Valley Conference play ... ten players return from that squad, for first-year interim coach Jill Karwoski ... the school's athletics web site is www.msueagles.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons and Wichita State are tied, 1-1, in the all-time series between the teams ... in the most recent meeting, four years ago, the Shockers captured a 3-0 win in Florida International's tourney (March 4, 2000) ... BGSU's win came in the 1986 season, by a 3-2 score.
BGSU is also tied, 2-2-1, in the series with Oakland, and the Golden Grizzlies took both games last year ... OU swept a doubleheader in Michigan on a frigid day, by scores of 4-1 and 5-0 (April 22, 2003) ... OU's Nicole Marzano threw a no-hitter in the nightcap ... BG picked up a road win, 6-0, in 2000, then got a win (3-2) and a tie (2-2, called due to darkness) at the BGSU Softball Field in 2001.
The Falcons lead Morehead State by a 1-0-1 margin, with the teams' first-ever meetings coming in a doubleheader in Kentucky last March 11 ... BGSU pounded out 13 hits in an 8-6 win, before the teams tied, 5-5, in the nightcap.
BGSU has never met Marist or Mercer on the softball diamond.
FOUR ARE GONE...
Leigh Ross-Shaw and her coaching staff lost four talented seniors from last year's squad, including two-thirds of the starting outfield in Kandice Machain and Crystal Wilson ... the Falcons also must replace Libby Voshell, a four-year starter at shortstop, along with pitcher McKenna Houle, whose name can be found throughout the Falcon record books.
...BUT ELEVEN RETURN
The cupboard is far from bare, though, as Ross-Shaw welcomes back 11 letterwinners, including seven starters, from a year ago ... the coach will rely upon the leadership of a five-member senior class, as Candace Fenton, Jenifer Kernahan, Jody Johnson, Marla Murphy (redshirt junior) and Valerie Tipton enter their final spring at the BGSU Softball Field, looking to leave their legacy ... the junior class includes Kristen Anderson and Stephanie Finkel, while four sophomores are back after seeing a great deal of starting time in 2003.
ABOUT THOSE SOPHOMORES...
No fewer than four first-year players started over half of the games last season, and those youngsters gained some valuable experience while quickly putting their stamp on the Falcon program ... the group, now sophomores, includes third baseman Gina Rango, who started all 53 games in her first spring at BGSU ... Lindsay Heimrich and Abby Habicht moved into the lineup at first and second base, respectively, giving BGSU three freshmen in the infield during the season's stretch run ... last but certainly not least, Liz Vrabel led the Falcon pitchers in nearly every category in her first collegiate season ... Natalie Armintrout played in two games last spring before an injury forced her to redshirt.
RANGO NAMED TO GREAT LAKES ALL-REGION FIRST TEAM
In her freshman season of 2003, Falcon 3B Gina Rango was named to the Great Lakes All-Region First Team ... Rango, a native of North Lima, Ohio (Boardman H.S.), became just the eighth player in school history to earn all-region honors, and only the third Falcon ever to be named to the all-region first team ... additionally, Rango was the only freshman named to the 2003 first team, and was one of only two MAC players chosen to the first team (joining Ohio outfielder Erin Chapman) ... the Great Lakes All-Region Team is the result of voting by head coaches within the region.
RANGO, VRABEL EARN MVP AWARDS
A pair of Falcon freshmen won the team's Most Valuable Player awards for the 2003 season ... third baseman Gina Rango was 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 Sara Edwards and redshirt soph Marla 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 ... the awards, with the obvious exception of the Coaches Award, are the result of voting by team members.
FALCONS PICKED THIRD
Bowling Green was picked to finish third in the West Division in the 2004 preseason coaches' poll ... the poll is a result of voting by the league's 13 head coaches ... Marshall and Central Michigan were picked to win their respective divisions, with MU predicted to win the MAC Tournament ... due to a change in polling procedures implemented at the Directors of Athletics' meeting in July of 2003, the MAC announces only the top three selections in each division.
