Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
EASTERN ILLINOIS
BG Blanks Panthers, 8-0
March 21, 2004 | Softball
March 20, 2004
MARIETTA, Ga. - The Bowling Green State University softball team used six extra-base hits and a solid pitching performance to record an 8-0, six-inning victory over Eastern Illinois University Saturday (March 20). The game was the Falcons' third in the Buzz Classic, hosted by Georgia Tech.
With the win, BGSU improves to 9-10 on the season and 3-0 in Buzz Classic play. The Panthers dropped to 8-15 in 2004.
Five different Falcons had at least two hits in the victory, which was BG's first 'run-rule' game of the season. Sophomore Gina Rango was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in, while freshmen Jeanine Baca and Megan McPherson, sophomore Abby Habicht and junior Kristen Anderson each had two hits. Baca and Habicht had two RBI apiece, while McPherson and Rango scored a pair of runs in the win.
The Falcons wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Rango had a two-out single in the first inning, and took second on an error by the EIU leftfielder. After a Jenifer Kernahan walk, Anderson singled to score Rango with what would prove to be the only run sophomore pitcher Lindsay Heimrich would need. But, the BG offense was far from finished.
In the Falcon half of the second, Habicht led off with a single, and junior Stephanie Finkel bunted her to second base. Habicht took third on a groundout, and scored when McPherson lashed a triple to left-center. McPherson then scored on Baca's first career homerun that made the score 4-0 and chased Panther starting pitcher Andrea Darnell.
The Panthers' second hurler of the day, Heather Hoeschen, kept the Falcons off the scoreboard in the next two innings, despite allowing three hits and a walk during that time. But, BG was back in business in the fifth.
Hoeschen got Rango to pop up to begin the fifth inning. That out was significant in that it would be the only time the BG sophomore was retired in two Saturday games. The next batter, Kernahan, singled, and Anderson doubled to send her to third. Then, both runners came around to score when Habicht hit a double of her own. That hit prompted the third Panther pitcher of the game, Ashley Condon.
Condon avoided further damage in the fifth, but had no such luck in the sixth. In that inning, McPherson led off with a single. Condon got two ground-ball outs, bringing Rango to the plate. Rango ended the game with a two-run homer to right-center.
Meanwhile, Heimrich was keeping the Panther hitters at bay, throwing her first collegiate shutout. She allowed just four hits, striking out four without issuing a walk.
The Falcons pounded out 13 total hits, including seven singles, three doubles, a triple and the Baca and Rango homers. BGSU will return to the field for Saturday afternoon's game vs. Georgia State, before advancing to bracket play either Saturday night or Sunday.
