Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Defending MAC Tournament Champion
April 07, 2004 | Softball
April 7, 2004
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team, after four days off from competition this week, will face a pair of 2003 NCAA Tournament teams from the state of Michigan ... the Falcons of sixth-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw will return to Mid-American Conference action with a three-game home series vs. defending league tournament champion Western Michigan University, beginning Friday (April 9) ... the first pitch of that doubleheader is set for 2:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field ... then, the Falcons and Broncos will return to the diamond for a single game Saturday (April 10), beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Following the WMU series, the Falcons will entertain Oakland University in a non-conference DH on Monday (April 12) ... that twinbill is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field ... the Falcons then head to the University at Buffalo for a Wednesday (April 14) doubleheader, before returning home for a three-game series vs. Ball State University on April 17-18 ... Friday's WMU games begin a stretch of 10 games in a 10-day span for the Brown and Orange.
BGSU is 13-19 on the season, and the Falcons are 2-3 in MAC play ... 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 ... head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw returns nine letterwinners, including seven starters, from that squad.
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 150-134-2 (.528) ... BGSU's final win in 2003, vs. Northern Illinois in the MAC Tournament, made Ross-Shaw the winningest coach in school history, and Saturday's (April 3) win at IPFW was the 150th of her career ... Ross-Shaw, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, has a league mark of 75-48 (.610), ranking her second in league victories ... she is just three MAC wins shy of the school record, and is the school leader in MAC winning percentage ... 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 ... Ross-Shaw's total of 75 MAC wins places her second behind Jacquie Joseph (78-71 from 1989-93).
THE OPPONENTS
Western Michigan checks into the week with an overall record of 16-16 ... the Broncos are 3-2 in MAC play, heading into a home Wednesday (April 7) doubleheader against Miami ... WMU won six of seven games last week, including a three-game weekend sweep of Northern Illinois ... senior Laura Stewart, the reigning MAC Pitcher of the Week, went 4-0 with a 0.00 earned-run average last week, throwing a no-hitter and two one-hitters ... Stewart is 11-7 with a 1.71 ERA on the year ... at the plate, freshman OF Kristi Strange is hitting .318, with senior P/OF Jaymie Voss batting .315 ... last season, Western finished 30-24 overall and 17-7 in MAC action ... the Broncos won the West Division, then captured the MAC Tournament crown as well ... head coach Kathy Leitke has a record of 81-98-1 in her fourth season in Kalamazoo ... she has an overall head-coaching mark of 393-265-1 in her 13th season ... the school's athletics web site is www.wmubroncos.com.
Oakland is 9-18 on the season to date, including a 1-7 record in Mid-Continent Conference action ... the Golden Grizzlies are scheduled to host Wayne State in a Wednesday twinbill (April 7) before heading to Valparaiso for a four-game weekend series (April 9-10) ... the Grizzlies are looking to break a nine-game losing streak ... individually, junior OF Christina Schulte is batting .324, while junior OF Toni Salo is hitting .294 ... sophomore Camie Knorr has a .272 batting average and leads the team in runs scored (15) and runs batted in (16) ... in the circle, junior lefty Nicole Marzano has eight of the team's nine wins this year ... Marzano is 8-8 with a 2.22 ERA ... head coach Mike Tomlinson's team went 34-26-1 overall a year ago, finishing 15-5 in the Mid-Con ... the Grizzlies finished second in the league, then won the conference tourney and advanced to NCAA Regional play ... Tomlinson has a record of 45-44-1 in his second season as a head coach, both with the Grizzlies ... the school's athletics web site is www.ougrizzlies.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail the all-time series with Western Michigan by a 33-19 margin, and the Broncos swept last year's two meetings ... in the first games between the teams since the 2000 season, host WMU won a MAC-opening doubleheader by scores of 4-3 and 8-3 in Kalamazoo (March 22, 2003) ... Western is 13-7 against the Falcons at the BGSU Softball Field, but the Brown and Orange swept the Broncos in a DH the last time the teams met at the BGSU Softball Field (March 31, 2000) ... that snapped a five-game Falcon home losing streak vs. WMU.
BGSU leads Oakland 3-2-1, in that series, which began in 2000 ... the teams have already met in 2004, with the Falcons capturing a 3-2 win at the Mercer Classic in Georgia (Feb. 27, 2004) ... in the 2000 season, OU's first as a varsity program, the Falcons took a 6-0 road win ... on April 1, 2002, in the only prior meetings at the BGSU Softball Field, the Falcons picked up a win and a tie, as the second game was called after six innings due to darkness ... last year, however, the host Golden Grizzlies swept the Falcons on a bitterly cold day in Rochester, 4-1 and 5-0 (April 22, 2003), with Nicole Marzano throwing a no-hitter in the nightcap.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons went 1-5 last week ... BGSU opened the home portion of the 2004 schedule with a Wednesday (March 31) doubleheader vs. Marshall, falling to the Thundering Herd by scores of 4-2 and 10-1 (second game six innings) ... on Saturday (April 3), the Brown and Orange picked up a 7-1 win at IPFW, but dropped the second game, 2-0 ... the next day, BG fell at Indiana by scores of 6-4 and 4-2.
BACA GETS ON BASE
As the Falcons' leadoff hitter, freshman CF Jeanine Baca's primary job is to get on base ... and, Baca has been doing just that ... she hit a team-high .421 last week, leading the Falcons in hits (eight) and runs batted in (four) in the six games ... Baca's 8-for-19 performance included a 5-for-8 effort in Sunday's (April 4) doubleheader at Indiana ... after getting 15 hits over the first 18 games of the year, she is now 23-for-48 (.479) over the last 14 contests, with eight multiple-hit games during that time ... Baca has gone 17-for-35 (.486) at the plate in the last 10 games, raising her batting average from .224 to .314 during that span.
HEIMRICH HELPS HOWEVER SHE CAN
Lindsay Heimrich had quite a busy weekend in Indiana ... the sophomore, who normally plays first base for the Falcons, saw action as a pitcher in three of the four games ... she had a deceptive 1-2 record and an ERA of just 1.37 on the weekend, throwing a complete-game four-hitter in a win at IPFW Saturday (April 3) ... in that game, Heimrich struck out a career-high seven batters, and the only run against her came on a two-out BG error in the final inning ... then, she came on in relief in the opener at IU, pitching three-plus innings ... in that contest, Heimrich allowed just three hits and a pair of runs, whiffing three without walking a batter ... she started the second game of the day, surrendering only one earned run in five innings ... on the week, Heimrich allowed opponents to hit just .203 against her ... she has an opponent batting average of just .201 on the season, and has walked only four batters (while striking out 25) in 36 1/3 innings ... at the plate, Heimrich is batting .263 this season, good for third on the team ... she has seven doubles and nine walks, ranking second on the Falcons in each category.
RANGO, ZIRKLE ARE HOMER HAPPY
Freshman Ashley Zirkle and sophomore Gina Rango each had two homeruns last week ... both players cleared the left-field fence in Wednesday's (March 31) Marshall doubleheader, with Zirkle's round-tripper the first of her career ... then, each player homered in the seventh inning of the win at IPFW ... Rango's blast was the 10th of her career, ranking her fifth on the BGSU list.
FRESH FALCON FACES ON THE FIELD
The Falcons started five freshmen in each game at IPFW, including an all-frosh outfield in both games ... in the opener, Kari Steigerwald, Jeanine Baca and Emmy Ramsey comprised the outfield from left to right, and were joined by second baseman Megan McPherson and designated player Ashley Zirkle ... Zirkle again started at the d.p. spot in the second game, while McPherson drew the start at shortstop ... frosh Lauren Hoffman, Maggie Tudor and Steigerwald were the outfield starters.
NOTING THE FALCONS
The Falcons have a 13-19 record, and BGSU is 2-3 in MAC play ... BG is 0-2 at home, 4-9 in road games and 9-8 in neutral-site contests ... BGSU is batting .238 to the opponents' .228 ... sophomore 3B Gina Rango leads the team with a .324 batting average, and also paces the Brown and Orange in at-bats (105), runs (16), hits (34), doubles (10), homers (five), runs batted in (22), slugging pct. (.581), on-base pct. (.349) and total bases (61) ... Rango is the lone Falcon to have started all 32 games to date, while junior RF Kristen Anderson, freshman CF Jeanine Baca and sophomore 1B/P Lindsay Heimrich each have made 31 starts ... Baca is second on the team with a .314 batting average, while Heimrich is hitting .263 ... Baca is also second on the Falcons with 15 runs scored and 32 hits, while Heimrich has scored 13 runs and freshman 2B/SS Megan McPherson 10 ... Anderson has three homers and 18 RBI, ranking second on the team behind Rango in each category ... in the circle, Falcon pitchers have a combined ERA of 1.76, lowest in the MAC ... sophomore Liz Vrabel has a 6-10 record and a 1.32 ERA, while Heimrich has a 2-4 record and a 1.73 ERA ... Vrabel, who has 13 complete games in 15 starts, has struck out 91 batters and allowed opponents to hit just .226 against her ... Heimrich has an opponent batting average of just .201 ... senior Jody Johnson is 5-5 with a 2.52 ERA.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
A few more Falcon facts ... junior Kristen Anderson made her first pitching appearance of the year in Saturday's second game at IPFW ... she allowed only an unearned run and two hits in three innings ... Anderson went 2-2 in eight appearances, including five starts, in 2003, her first season at BG after transferring from Eastern Michigan ... freshmen Lauren Hoffman and Maggie Tudor each made their first collegiate starts in the second game at IPFW ... freshman Kari Steigerwald picked up her first collegiate RBI that day, driving in the opening run in the opening game in Fort Wayne ... six different Falcon players have hit at least one homerun this season, topping the total for all of last year by one ... BGSU now has a team total of 14 homers, after hitting a total of 20 a year ago ... the Falcons' nine-run loss in Wednesday's second Marshall game marked BG's worst setback in a home game in nearly eight years, since a 12-0 loss to Ball State on April 2, 1996 ... BG had not allowed 10 runs at the BGSU Softball Field since that same BSU game ... the Falcons made a total of 19 errors in last week's six games, leading to a total of 15 unearned runs ... on the year, the Falcons are 4-12 when committing two or more errors in a game ... BG is 9-7 when making one error or fewer ... the Falcons have had only seven errorless games this year to date, going 6-1 in such contests ... sophomore Abby Habicht made 41 starts last season, with only one of those starts -- the first Michigan game -- coming at catcher ... but, Habicht has started 22 games behind the plate this spring, including 18 of the last 19 contests ... senior Jenifer Kernahan has shown similar versatility during her career ... Kernahan entered the 2004 season having made starts at five different positions, and also made several starts as a goalkeeper on the BGSU women's soccer team last fall ... but, Kernahan had never started a game at shortstop in her collegiate career ... now, however, she has made 18 starts at that spot, including 17 of the last 19 games ... Kernahan has also started 10 games at catcher this year ... she enters Friday's Western Michigan DH with 144 career starts, spread among the catcher (70), leftfield (34), shortstop (18), designated player (11), third base (9) and centerfield (2) spots.
