Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Falcons Fall To Flashes
April 21, 2004 | Softball
April 21, 2004
Final Stats -- Game One
Final Stats -- Game Two
KENT, Ohio - A pair of Kent State University comebacks gave the Golden Flashes a doubleheader sweep of the Bowling Green State University softball team Wednesday afternoon (April 21). The host Flashes won by scores of 7-2 and 3-2 in the Mid-American Conference twinbill.
With the wins, KSU improves to 19-15 overall and 11-3 in MAC play, while the Falcons are now 21-23 and 8-7, respectively.
At a rainy Kent State Softball Field, the Falcons got on the board in the second inning of the opener. Junior Kristen Anderson led off with a single to left off KSU starter Brittney Robinson, the first hit of the game. Senior Jenifer Kernahan bunted Anderson to second, and sophomore Abby Habicht's grounder sent her to third. Then, junior Stephanie Finkel came through, lining a ball over the head of Golden Flash leftfielder Rachel Testa for a double, with Anderson scoring easily.
With freshman Megan McPherson leading off the third inning, and a 1-2 count, the umpires called the teams off the field due to the rain. After a 25-minute delay, the game was resumed.
One batter later, freshman Jeanine Baca drew a one-out walk, and took second on sophomore Lindsay Heimrich's grounder to the right side. With two down, another Falcon came through, as sophomore Gina Rango lined a ball high off the wall in rightfield. Baca scored easily on the double, doubling the Falcon lead.
The Flashes got on the board on a Carrie Eneix homer to left-center to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. The round-tripper was the first allowed by Falcon sophomore Liz Vrabel since a March 25 contest at nationally-ranked Michigan. Vrabel recovered to get the next three KSU hitters in order.
KSU rallied, however, to take the lead with three runs in the fifth, as Testa led off with a bloop single, and advanced on Robinson's sac bunt, beating the throw to second. The next hitter, Abby Molnar, also bunted, with the runners taking second and third. Marci Ridenbaugh then singled off the glove of diving shortstop Kernahan, with Testa scoring. The next hitter, Kelly Maehl, also singled off an infielder's glove, as her ball was deflected by third baseman Rango toward second base, allowing the go-ahead run to score in the person of Robinson. Ridenbaugh scored on a two-out wild pitch to put the hosts ahead by a 4-2 count.
The Flashes threatened again in the sixth, as the Falcon fielders struggled. Tracie Logar led off with a single. Then, Megan Verde bunted, but the BGSU throw to second was high, allowing both runners to reach safely. Testa reached on another Falcon error, loading the bases with no outs.
The next hitter, Robinson, singled home a run, chasing Vrabel and bringing in senior Jody Johnson. A wild pitch plated another run, before Johnson got Ashley Fairhurst looking for the first out of the inning. Ridenbaugh's sac fly gave the Flashes a 7-2 lead.
Kernahan led off the seventh with a liner off the top of the wall in left-center, but the ball was hit so hard that she was held to a single. A double play and a groundout ended the inning and gave the Flashes the game-one win.
Robinson picked up the win to improve to 7-6. She allowed two runs on four hits in five innings of work, walking a pair of batters. Logar got her third save, with two innings of one-hit relief.
Vrabel took the loss to drop to 11-12. She gave up seven runs, with only four earned, in five innings. Vrabel struck out six batters without issuing a walk. Johnson threw a scoreless inning, striking out one hitter.
At the plate, Logar had two of KSU's seven hits, while Testa scored two runs and Ridenbaugh drove in a pair of runs. Five different Falcons had a hit apiece.
In the second game, Baca singled off KSU's Kate Leary on the game's first pitch, and freshman Emmy Ramsey's sac bunt was misplayed by third baseman Jodi Stevens, putting a pair of runners aboard. The runners each advanced on a wild pitch, and Rango reached on a one-out single, as the Flashes looked Baca back to third base.
With the bases loaded, Anderson hit a grounder to the first baseman, who threw home. But, KSU catcher Eneix dropped the throw home, allowing Baca to score the game's first run. Ramsey scored on Kernahan's groundout for a 2-0 Falcon lead.
At the middle of the first inning, however, the rains came again. This time, the delay lasted for an hour and 23 minutes before play resumed at 5:53 p.m.
The lengthy delay seemed to rob the Falcons of the momentum gained by the two-run first inning. Ridenbaugh led off the bottom of the first with a double to the wall in left, and took third on Maehl's sac bunt. On the play, Maehl was safe on a BG error.
Maehl stole second, and Johnson then hit Eneix with a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. Johnson got Stevens to hit a grounder back to the pitcher and threw home for a force play and the first out. But, Logar walked to force home a run.
Falcon leftfielder Finkel made a running catch of Verde's fly ball in foul ground, with Eneix able to tag from third and come home to tie the score.
The Flashes loaded the bases with one out in the third, on back-to-back singles by Eneix and Stevens and a walk to Logar. For the second-straight at-bat, Verde made an out but drove in a run, as Eneix came home on her grounder to second. Then, Johnson struck out Testa to end the inning.
BGSU had a good chance to tie the score, getting the leadoff runner on base in the sixth inning. Kernahan led off with a single off pitcher Leary's glove. The ball caromed toward shortstop, and Ridenbaugh's hurried throw skipped past the first baseman, allowing Kernahan to take second base. But, with pinch-runner Marla Murphy at second, Leary struck out the next three hitters. The Falcons went down in order in the seventh.
The Falcons held a slim 5-4 advantage in hits, with Rango going 2-for-2. Eneix was 2-for-2 with a pair of runs for the Flashes, while Verde had two RBI.
Leary went all the way for the win, upping her record to 8-6. She allowed two runs, both unearned, and five hits, walking two batters and striking out five.
Johnson took the loss to even her record at 7-7. She surrendered only one earned run and four hits, walking two and whiffing three.
BGSU returns home for a three-game weekend series vs. Northern Illinois, with a Saturday (April 24) doubleheader and a Sunday (April 25) single game. Starting time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. each day.
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