Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
CLEVELAND STATE
Falcons Win Again in Final At-Bat, 2-1
April 27, 2004 | Softball
April 27, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Sophomore Lindsay Heimrich's eighth-inning grounder plated freshman Megan McPherson as the Bowling Green State University softball Falcons picked up a win in the team's final at-bat, 2-1 over Cleveland State University Tuesday afternoon (April 27). The game was held at the BGSU Softball Field.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 25-23 overall, while the Vikings drop to 23-21. The second game of the scheduled doubleheader was cancelled, due to the cold weather, by mutual agreement between the two head coaches.
At a chilly BGSU Softball Field, a few snowflakes fell prior to the game, and a brisk wind was blowing in from centerfield. Senior Jenifer Kernahan, however, led off the second inning with a liner that hit off the very top of the left-field wall for a double. She took third on sophomore Abby Habicht's sacrifice bunt, then scored on junior Stephanie Finkel's grounder to the right side. Finkel was safe when CSU second baseman Kaitlin Guyette slipped as she prepared to throw to first. The Falcons had a pair of runners aboard after freshman Jeanine Baca drew a two-out walk, but CSU starter Grace Luginbuhl got a grounder back to the circle for the third out.
The Falcons' starter, senior Jody Johnson, was sailing along, throwing four and two-thirds innings of no-hit ball. Johnson only needed four pitches to set the Vikings down in the third inning.
The Vikings, though, manufactured a run in the fourth inning, without benefit of a hit. Michelle Beightol was hit by a pitch, and then advanced three bases on one play. She stole second with the next hitter, Kortney Spidell, at the plate, then continued to third when the throw was wide of the second-base bag and trickled into the outfield. She came all the way home when the ensuing throw toward third base was also off line and went into the Falcons' dugout.
The visitors did not get a hit until Guyette's blooper over the head of her second-base counterpart, Megan McPherson, with two outs in the fifth inning. But, Johnson got the third out of the inning on the next pitch, a bunt back to the circle.
After allowing the third-inning run, Luginbuhl retired 11 consecutive batters until sophomore Gina Rango reached base with one down in the sixth inning. Rango hit a line shot that deflected off third baseman Anna Hubert, then continued to second base when the throw was high. Luginbuhl recovered, however, getting a strikeout and a fly ball to end the inning.
Jackie Cornelius laced a one-out double in the seventh inning, the Vikes' third hit of the day, and the first non-blooper among those hits. Johnson got a grounder to first for the second out, with Cornelius taking third. The Falcon senior hurler then got CSU's Shannon Graves to hit an inning-ending grounder to second.
When the Falcons could not score in the seventh, the teams utilized the international tiebreaker rule to begin the eighth frame. Graves began the eighth on second base for the Vikes, and immediately went to third on a sac bunt by Michelle Nicolas. Then, however, Michele Penney hit a grounder to Kernahan at shortstop, who looked Graves back to third before firing to Heimrich for the second out. Johnson issued a walk to Beightol, but got Spidell to ground out to third.
McPherson began the bottom of the eighth on second, and Baca promptly drew her second walk of the game to put two runners aboard. Then, Ramsey bunted the runners to second and third, before Heimrich hit a grounder to second baseman Guyette. She threw home, but McPherson was able to slide home ahead of the tag attempt with the winning run.
The Falcons held a slim 4-3 advantage in hits. Johnson picked up the win with her eight-inning three-hitter. She allowed only an unearned run in improving to 9-7 on the season, walking four batters and striking out three.
Luginbuhl allowed only four hits and one earned run in her complete-game effort. She walked three batters and whiffed one, dropping to 7-12 on the year.
BGSU will travel to the Motor City to face another Horizon League team, Detroit, in a Thursday (April 29) doubleheader beginning at 3:00 p.m.
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