Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Begin Stretch Run With Seven Games This Week
April 27, 2004 | Softball
April 27, 2004
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team, coming off a three-game weekend sweep, steps outside of Mid-American Conference play for a pair of midweek doubleheaders vs. Horizon League squads ... the Falcons of sixth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw will host Cleveland State University in a Tuesday (April 27) doubleheader ... first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field.
Following the CSU twinbill, the Falcons will play five-straight games in the state of Michigan, beginning with a Thursday (April 29) double-dip against the University of Detroit Mercy ... the Falcons and Titans will meet in a 3:00 p.m. start at Buysse Ballpark ... then, the Brown and Orange will return to MAC action with a three-game weekend series at Eastern Michigan University ... the Falcons and Eagles will play a Saturday (May 1) doubleheader and a Sunday (May 2) single game, with the first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. each day at EMU's Varsity Field.
BGSU is 24-23 on the season, and the Falcons are 11-7 in MAC play, good for third place in the league's West Division and tied for fifth overall (the top six teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the MAC Tournament) ... the Falcons are coming off a 2003 season that saw the team go 26-26-1 overall and 15-9 in the conference ... BG finished fourth in the West Division and fifth overall, advancing to the MAC Tournament for the fifth time in six seasons.
RANGO'S RECORDS
Sophomore Gina Rango hit a pair of homeruns in Saturday's (April 24) first win over Northern Illinois ... Rango hit two-run shots in both the first and second innings ... early BGSU softball records are sketchy, but the two-HR game is believed to tie the school single-game mark ... and, it is believed to be the first-ever multiple-homer game by a Falcon at the BGSU Softball Field ... Libby Voshell had a pair of homers vs. Illinois on March 12, 2001, while Kandice Machain went deep twice in a game at Kent State on March 30, 2002 ... Rango has eight homers this season, a new school record (breaking the old mark of six, held by three players) ... just a sophomore, Rango is only one homer shy of the school's career mark ... she now has 13, trailing only Lynsey Ebel (14 from 1998-2001) ... Voshell (2000-03) and Jen Domschot each had 13 career homers as well.
HEAD COACH LEIGH ROSS-SHAW
Leigh Ross-Shaw is in her sixth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 161-138-2 (.538) ... 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, is also the school's leader in MAC victories and league winning percentage ... she has a league mark of 84-52 (.618) ... 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 ... and, of course, she sets new school marks in both categories with each victory.
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 is in 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 is in 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 is in 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
Cleveland State begins the week with an overall record of 23-20, and the Vikings are in second place in the Horizon League with a mark of 11-4 ... CSU won two of three games at UW-Green Bay over the weekend, and the team has won 14 of the last 16 games, including an 11-game win streak from April 9-21 ... the Vikes are 9-6 in road games to date ... individually, senior Michelle Beightol leads the team with a .338 batting average, and her total of 32 runs batted in is more than double that of any of her teammates ... junior Michelle Nicholas is hitting .292 ... sophomore Grace Luginbuhl paces the pitchers with a 12-7 record and a 1.72 earned-run average ... junior Kortney Spidell is 10-7 with a 1.88 ERA ... last season, CSU finished 23-30-1 and 6-11 in HL play ... head coach Julie Jones has a record of 179-212-2 in her eighth year with the Vikings ... the school's athletics web site is www.csuvikings.com.
Detroit enters the week with an overall mark of 13-26, and the Titans are 5-13 in the Horizon League to date ... UDM will play a Tuesday doubleheader at Central Michigan prior to hosting the Falcons two days later ... the Titans lost two of three games to visiting UIC over the weekend ... UDM is now 3-9 in home games this spring ... at the plate, sophomore Katrina Klemp paces the team with a .292 batting average, with sophomore Kristin Martin hitting .289 and freshman Sara Dickey batting .279 ... Klemp and Martin each have 14 RBI to tie for the team lead ... sophomore Lindsay Roy leads the Titan pitchers with a 6-10 record and a 2.18 ERA ... five different hurlers have seen action for the Titans this season ... last year, coach Bob Wilkerson's team finished 18-22-1 overall and 4-8-1 in league play ... Wilkerson has a head-coaching record of 118-241-1 in his eighth season, all with the Titans ... he school's athletics web site is www.DetroitTitans.com.
Eastern Michigan has more than doubled the team's win total for all of last season ... the Eagles are 13-24 overall and 3-12 in the MAC, and will play a Wednesday single game at Michigan State prior to hosting the Falcons this weekend ... EMU dropped three games to league-leading Central Michigan over the weekend ... Eastern has played only eight home games to date this year, with a 1-7 record heading into the BGSU series ... senior Deanna Wisnieski is hitting a team-high .356 with four homers, while sophomore Nikki Denman is batting .342 with EMU-best totals of eight homers and 26 RBI ... in the circle, Denman paces the team with an ERA of 1.93 ... she has a 3-5 record ... freshman Michelle Lloyd leads the Eagles with four wins ... five pitchers have each started anywhere from six to 11 games this season ... last season, the Eagles finished with records of 6-38 overall and 4-17 in MAC play ... head coach Karen Baird has a record of 19-62 in her second season in Ypsilanti ... she is 117-154 in her seventh season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletics web site is www.emich.edu/goeagles.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead the all-time series with Cleveland State by a margin of 18-6 ... last year, the teams split their doubleheader at Viking Field, with the hosts winning a 5-4 contest, and BG taking the nightcap by a 5-2 count (April 29, 2003) ... the teams also split a DH in their last meetings at the BGSU Softball Field (April 4, 2002), where the Falcons hold a 10-3 advantage over the Vikings.
BGSU leads the overall series with Detroit, 23-7, but the Titans won both meetings last season ... UDM picked up wins by scores of 2-0 and 5-4 at the BGSU Softball Field (March 26, 2003), snapping a Falcon winning streak of 11 games vs. the Titans ... BG is 11-1 all-time in road games vs. Detroit, and the Falcons have won the last eight meetings in the Motor City, including wins of 8-3 and 12-5 the last time the teams played there (May 2, 2002).
BGSU holds a 38-27 lead over Eastern Michigan in that series, and the Falcons won all three meetings last year at the BGSU Softball Field to close the regular season (May 2-3, 2003) ... prior to those games, the Eagles had won the previous three matchups between the teams, including a 6-1 win the last time the Falcons ventured to Ypsilanti (April 9, 1999) ... that snapped a BG five-game win streak at Varsity Field and an overall Falcon winning streak of 11 games in the series.
FAMILIAR FACES
Falcon fans may recognize a few familiar names and faces when BGSU takes on Cleveland State Tuesday ... Viking assistant coach Amy Kyler spent three seasons as Leigh Ross-Shaw's assistant coach at BGSU before returning to her alma mater ... additionally, CSU freshman Sarah Milosek's sister, Jessie, was a pitcher for Ross-Shaw's Falcons from 1999-2002.
RECAPPING LAST WEEK
The Falcons went 3-2 last week, beginning with a pair of losses at a rain-soaked Kent State Softball Field on Wednesday (April 21) ... the host Golden Flashes picked up victories by scores of 7-2 and 3-2 ... BGSU rebounded to capture all three games in a home weekend series vs. Northern Illinois ... on Saturday (April 24), Liz Vrabel threw a one-hitter and Gina Rango homered twice as the Falcons picked up an 11-0, five-inning win ... in the nightcap, Jody Johnson threw a two-hit shutout as BG downed the Huskies, 4-0 ... on Sunday (April 25), BGSU plated two runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 3-2 win.
NOTING THE FALCONS
The Falcons have a 24-23 record, and BGSU is now 11-7 in MAC play ... BG is 10-3 at home, 5-12 in road games and 9-8 in neutral-site contests ... the Falcons are batting .254 to the opponents' .206 ... sophomore 3B Gina Rango leads the team with a .359 batting average, up 23 points from last week ... Rango also paces the Brown and Orange in hits (55), doubles (13), homers (eight), runs batted in (34), slugging pct. (.614), on-base pct. (.395) and total bases (94) ... Rango is the lone Falcon to have started all 47 games to date, while junior RF Kristen Anderson, freshman CF Jeanine Baca and sophomore 1B/P Lindsay Heimrich each have made 46 starts ... Baca is second on the team with a .325 batting average, while Heimrich is hitting .306 ... Baca leads the team with 26 runs scored, one ahead of Rango's total ... Baca also leads the Falcons in at-bats (145) and is second with 50 hits ... Heimrich has 23 runs, while freshman 2B Megan McPherson has 15 ... Anderson has four homers and 25 RBI, ranking second on the team in each category ... Heimrich has 45 hits, including 12 doubles, and 18 RBI on the year ... in the circle, Falcon pitchers have a combined ERA of 1.51, lowest in the MAC ... sophomore Liz Vrabel has a 13-12 record and a 1.36 ERA, while Heimrich has a 3-4 record and a 1.51 ERA ... Vrabel, who has 19 complete games in 23 starts, has struck out 138 batters and allowed opponents to hit just .211 against her ... Heimrich has an opponent batting average of just .181 ... senior Jody Johnson is 8-7 with a 1.79 ERA and an opponent BA of just .209.
WEARING THEIR HITTING SHOES
The Falcon pitching staff has been solid for much of the year, as a MAC-leading earned-run average of 1.51 would attest ... however, BGSU's hitters showed their prowess in the Northern Illinois series ... the Falcons hit a collective .370 in the three-game sweep, pounding out a total of 27 hits, including seven for extra bases ... six players hit .364 or better on the weekend ... additionally, all 10 Falcons with more than one plate appearance in the series drew at least one walk ... the Falcons had a total of 14 base on balls and an on-base percentage of .471 against the Huskies.
PITCHERS STILL DOING THEIR THING, TOO
As mentioned above, the Falcon pitching staff has been solid for much of the season ... and, BGSU's hurlers were on their game in Saturday's (April 24) doubleheader vs. NIU ... in the opener, Liz Vrabel allowed only one hit, posting her fifth shutout of the season and the 13th of her career (includes two combined shutouts from 2003) ... the one-hitter was Vrabel's second of the spring, and the fifth of her career ... in the nightcap, senior Jody Johnson allowed only two hits, picking up her third complete-game shutout this spring and the fourth of her career ... counting combined shutouts, Johnson now has eight in her career.
BACK OVER THE .500 MARK
It's been a while since the Falcons had a winning overall record ... BGSU has flirted with the .500 mark for the past few weeks, but the Brown and Orange had not had a winning mark since March 7, when the team was 5-4 after a pair of wins at the Bash by the Bay in Corpus Christi, Texas ... more importantly, however, the Falcons are four games over the .500 mark in MAC play ... BG's 11-7 league record is good for third place in the West Division and a fifth-place tie overall ... the top-six teams in the MAC, in terms of winning pct., will qualify for the league tournament.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
The Falcons' 11 runs in the opener vs. Northern Illinois marked the team's highest scoring total in MAC play this season ... the 11-run output also was the Falcons' highest in a home game in over a year, since a 13-5 victory over Toledo on April 6, 2003 ... BGSU has now won nine consecutive home contests, the longest such streak since an 11-game home winning streak ... that streak spanned the last nine games of the 2000 season and the first two contests of 2001 ... sophomore Gina Rango currently has a career-long nine-game hitting streak ... during that time, she is batting .577, with 15 hits in 26 at-bats ... Rango has three homers, 10 RBI and a slugging percentage of 1.000 during that time ... senior Jenifer Kernahan had at least one hit in all five games last week, going 7-for-14 (.500) in that time ... Kernahan, who had totals of three doubles and 11 RBI over her first 43 games this season, had two two-baggers and drove in four runs in the NIU series ... freshman Kari Steigerwald was a perfect 3-for-3 in that series, including a 2-for-2 game with a double, a walk and a run scored in the final game of the series ... senior Jody Johnson has an ERA of just 0.54 over her last seven appearances, spanning 39 innings ... during that time, she has a deceptive 3-2 record, despite allowing opponents to bat just .138 against her ... Rango leads the league in total bases, with 2.00 per game ... she is ranked second in the MAC in batting average, hits and doubles, and is tied for third in homeruns and RBI ... Jeanine Baca is fourth in the loop in hits, and is deadlocked for fourth in runs scores ... in the circle, Vrabel leads the MAC in ERA, and is third in complete games, innings pitched and appearances ... she ranks fourth in strikeouts ... in MAC games only, Baca (.381) and Rango (.375) rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in the league in batting avg. ... Baca is tied for the league lead in hits in MAC games, while Rango is tied for first in homers and is second in total bases ... Vrabel is tied for the lead in shutouts and is deadlocked for second in wins.
