Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Take Part In Cougar Classic
March 12, 2004 | Softball
March 11, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team readies for its third tournament in as many weekends, heading to Charleston, S.C., for the Cougar Classic ... the Falcons of coach Leigh Ross-Shaw will play at least four games in the five-team tournament, hosted by the College of Charleston ... in addition to the Falcons and the Cougars, the tourney field includes East Carolina University, UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) and Savannah State ... all games will be played at Patriots Point ... the complete tourney schedule...
Games played at Patriots Point Friday, March 12 BGSU vs. East Carolina, 11:00 a.m. BGSU vs. UAB, 1:00 p.m. East Carolina vs. Savannah State, 3:00 p.m. UAB at College of Charleston, 5:00 p.m. Savannah State at College of Charleston, 7:00 p.m.Saturday, March 13 UAB vs. East Carolina, 9:00 a.m. East Carolina at College of Charleston, 11:00 a.m. UAB vs. Savannah State, 1:00 p.m. BGSU vs. Savannah State, 3:00 p.m. BGSU at College of Charleston, 5:00 p.m. Fourth seed vs. Fifth seed, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 14 First seed vs. 4/5 winner, 9:00 a.m. Second seed vs. Third seed, 11:00 a.m. Championship game, 1:00 p.m.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons head to Charleston with a 5-5 record, and BG went 2-3 at last weekend's Bash by the Bay in Corpus Christi, Texas ... the Falcons went 1-1 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and 1-2 vs. Stephen F. Austin at that tourney ... BGSU's three losses all were by shutout, and the Falcons have been blanked four times to date this season ... the Falcons are hitting only .202 as a team, but are allowing opponents to hit just .206 this year to date ... individually, freshman 2B Megan McPherson is hitting a team-best .269, with sophomore 1B Lindsay Heimrich batting .259 and sophomore 3B Gina Rango .242 ... sophomore pitcher Liz Vrabel is 3-2 with an earned-run average of 1.24, while Heimrich is 0-2 with a 1.75 ERA ... senior Jody Johnson is 2-1 with an ERA of 2.13 ... Heimrich is allowing opponents to hit just .152 against her, and no BG hurler is allowing opponents to bat higher than .230.
THE OPPONENTS
East Carolina has a record of 17-5-1, and the Pirates are coming off a championship at their own Holiday Inn Express/Pirate Clash tournament last weekend ... the Pirates are 0-3 in Conference USA play ... after being swept in a three-game series by conference rival Houston, ECU came back to go 6-0 last weekend ... three players are hitting over .350, including junior IF Kate Manuse ... Manuse has a team-high .385 batting average ... all three pitchers have at least five wins, including sophomore Brentley Bridgeforth, who is 6-3 with a team-best 1.65 ERA ... junior Maggie Lingo is 6-2, while freshman Keli Harrell is 5-0 in the circle ... the school's athletics web site is www.ecupirates.com.
UAB was 8-9 on the year, heading into a Wednesday (March 10) doubleheader against Charlotte ... the Blazers, like ECU a member of Conference USA, are similar to the Pirates in another way ... UAB also entered the week riding a six-game win streak ... the Blazers went 4-0 and captured the title at their own Magic City Classic last weekend ... senior 2B Beth Mullins is hitting a team-high .347 this season, while sophomore OF Chelsea McCall is right behind at .345 ... junior pitcher Erica Mascarenas has a 6-5 record and a 1.97 ERA ... head coach Marla Townsend's team went 28-28 last year, with a 10-14 C-USA mark ... Townsend is 125-132 in her sixth year, all at UAB ... the school's web site is www.uabsports.com.
Savannah State's web site is www.savstate.edu ... no information was available on the team.
College of Charleston has a 12-7 record heading into their first home games of the season ... last weekend, the Cougars went 2-5 at the Hawaii Tournament ... senior OF Amanda Cone is batting .446 with four homeruns and 19 runs batted in on the season, as the Cougars are hitting .323 as a team ... two pitchers have won five games apiece, as junior Rachael Stern is 5-3 with a team-low 1.56 ERA and classmate Natalie Smith has a team-best 5-1 record ... head coach Chandelle Schulte's team went 45-11 overall, including a 16-4 Southern Conference record and a league regular-season title, last year ... Schulte has a record of 256-230 record in her 10th season, including a 79-48 mark in her third year with the Cougars ... the school's athletic web site is cougars.cofc.edu.
UP NEXT
Following the Cougar Classic, the Falcons will play a fourth tournament in as many weekends, heading to Marietta, Ga., for the Buzz Classic, hosted by Georgia Tech.
