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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Gina Rango Named to All-MAC First Team
May 12, 2004 | Softball
May 12, 2004
AKRON, Ohio - Bowling Green State University's Gina Rango has been named to the All Mid-American Conference Softball First Team. The announcement was made at Wednesday evening's (May 12) banquet at Firestone Stadium, held in conjunction with the MAC Tournament.
A trio of Falcons -- sophomores Lindsay Heimrich and Liz Vrabel and freshman Jeanine Baca -- all earned All-MAC Second-Team honors. The Falcons' total of four all-league selections is the most since the 2001 season, when BG had five players chosen to the team.
Rango, a sophomore, was named to the first team for the second time in as many years at BGSU. She becomes the eighth Falcon to earn all-league first-team honors at least twice, and the first since Nikki Rouhana in 2000 and 2001.
Vrabel has been named to the all-league second team for the second time in as many seasons, while both Baca and Heimrich earn All-MAC accolades for the first time.
All Rango has done in 2004 is put together one of the top statistical seasons in BGSU history. The third baseman currently leads the team with a .365 batting average, and also paced the Falcons in hits (65), doubles (15), homeruns (nine), runs batted in (39), total bases (109), slugging percentage (.612) and on-base pct. (.411). Rango has set a BGSU seasonal record for homers, and is second on the school single-season lists for RBI, total bases and slugging pct.
Rango, just a sophomore, already owns a share of the school's career HR record, with 14. This year, she is ranked among the MAC leaders in nearly every offensive category. Rango leads the MAC in total bases and is tied for the lead in doubles, while ranking second in batting average, hits and slugging.
Baca is second on the Falcons with a .317 batting average, and leads the Brown and Orange in at-bats (180), runs scored (34) and stolen bases (seven). The centerfielder currently ranks 13th in the MAC in batting, third in runs and fifth in hits, leading all MAC freshmen in each category. In MAC games only, Baca finished 11th in BA, third in hits and tied (with Heimrich) for fifth in runs scored.
Heimrich ranks third on the Falcons in hitting, with a .309 average, and also has 28 runs, 54 hits (including 12 doubles) and 24 RBI on the year. A first baseman/pitcher, she has a 4-4 record in the circle, having allowed opponents to hit just .196 against her. Heimrich has an earned-run average of 1.49. Her four wins include a no-hitter against Oakland. She is one of a select few players to be ranked among the league's top-20 in both batting and pitching, ranking 17th in the MAC in batting average and fifth in ERA.
Vrabel currently has a record of 14-15 in the circle, with an ERA of 1.46. She has a 1.46 ERA, having allowed foes to hit only .209 against her. Vrabel, who has 21 complete games in her 27 starts to date, has struck out 161 batters. She is third in the league in ERA, and also is ranked among the MAC's top five in wins, strikeouts, starts, complete games and shutouts. Just a sophomore, she already is ranked on a number of BGSU career pitching lists, and is the only player in school history to record two seasons of 150 or more strikeouts.
The Falcons of head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw have an overall record of 29-27, and finished MAC play with a 13-11 record, good for third in the league's West Division. BGSU, the sixth seed for the MAC Tournament, will face third-seeded Western Michigan University at Firestone Stadium Thursday morning (May 13). The game is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m., with the winner returning to the diamond to face second-seeded Kent State University at approximately 5:00 p.m.
