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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
EASTERN MICHIGAN
It's Splitsville For Falcons and Eagles Sunday
May 02, 2004 | Softball
May 2, 2004
YPSILANTI, Mich. - For the Bowling Green State University softball team, it was feast or famine at Eastern Michigan University Sunday afternoon (May 2). In the opening game of the Mid-American Conference doubleheader, the Falcons feasted on Eagle pitching, pounding out 10 hits en route to a 9-5 win. But, in the nightcap, BG could manage only a single hit in a 6-0 loss to EMU at Varsity Field.
The split gives the Eagles two wins in the teams' three-game weekend series. Eastern Michigan is now 15-26 overall and 5-13 in MAC play, while the Falcons are 28-25 and 12-9, respectively.
Following Sunday's games around the league, the Falcons remain in third place in the MAC's West Division, and BGSU is tied for the fifth overall seed entering the final week of the regular season. The top-six teams in the league, in terms of winning percentage, will qualify for the MAC Tournament in Akron on May 13-15.
In Sunday's opening contest, the Falcons got on the board early, scoring three runs after two were out. Sophomore Lindsay Heimrich lofted a single over the head of shortstop Lauren Clark, and classmate Gina Rango followed with a long drive to deep left. The Eagles' Kelly Gulliver nearly tracked it down, but saw the ball carom off her glove. Heimrich came around to score on the play, with Rango advancing all the way to third.
Then, junior Kristen Anderson drew a walk, and took second on a wild pitch, as the ball squirted out of EMU hurler Michelle Lloyd's hand and landed on the infield. Rango was forced to hold at third on the play, but both runners would soon come home to score, as senior Jenifer Kernahan singled to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead.
The Eagles got a run back in the bottom of the inning, on Clark's one-out solo home run to right field. But, the Falcons had an answer in the top of the second.
Sophomore Abby Habicht led off with a sharp single through the left side of the EMU infield, and took second on a wild pitch. Habicht moved to third on freshman Megan McPherson's grounder to the right side.
Freshman Jeanine Baca then hit a one-hopper back to the pitcher. Lloyd looked Habicht back to third base, but her throw toward first base was low. The ball skipped past first baseman Carolyn Grutza as Habicht trotted home.
Freshman Emmy Ramsey bunted Baca to second base, with Ramsey very nearly beating the throw to first. Heimrich then homered to right, giving the Falcons a 6-1 lead and ending Lloyd's afternoon. The homer was Heimrich's third of the season.
BGSU kept the hits coming in the third. Anderson led off with a single to right, and Kernahan followed with a hit of her own, as her slow chopper toward shortstop took a bad hop at the last instant. Junior Stephanie Finkel's flare landed on the grass past second base, scoring Anderson with the Falcons' seventh run of the game.
Seven of the nine Falcons in the batting order had reached base at least once through the first three innings, with six BG starters -- the three through eight hitters -- recording at least one hit in that time.
Eastern cut into the lead in the fourth, with an earned run followed by three unearned markers. Nikki Denman hit a solo homer to right with one out. Then, the Eagles put two more runners on base, before Grutza reached as her two-out infield popup was dropped, allowing Deanna Wisnieski to score. Pinch-hitter Kayla Bluthardt singled home a pair of teammates, cutting the Falcon lead to just 7-5, before BG starter Jody Johnson got Genny Hann to hit an inning-ending grounder back to the circle.
The Falcons got some insurance runs in the seventh, courtesy of the long ball. After Heimrich drew a leadoff walk, Rango made some history with a homer to right-center, putting BG up by a 9-5 count. Rango's homer extended her own school single-season record, and also tied the career mark (see notes below).
Johnson set down the Eagles in the seventh, closing out the win to improve her record to 10-7. She allowed just two earned runs on four hits, walking a pair of hitters and striking out three.
Lloyd took the loss for the hosts, falling to 4-10. She allowed six runs (three earned) before being replaced by Kelly Tomczak in the second inning. Tomczak allowed three runs on five hits in five and one-third innings, walking three hitters and fanning one.
At the plate, three Falcons had two-hit games. Rango went 2-for-4, scoring two runs and driving in three. Heimrich and Kernahan each had two hits in three at-bats. Heimrich scored three times, and she and Kernahan had two RBI apiece in the victory.
Four Eagles had a hit apiece, with Bluthardt driving in a pair of teammates.
In the second game, the home team got on the board right away. Clark singled with one out, and Denman followed with a two-run homer to left, her second of the day and 10th of the season.
Also the Eagles' game-two pitcher, Denman was perfect through three-plus innings, retiring the first 10 Falcon hitters of the game before issuing a one-out walk to Ramsey. The next batter, Heimrich, then reached base on an infield error. Shortstop Clark, after looking Ramsey back to second, threw high to first base, which allowed Ramsey to advance to third.
The Eagles then intentionally walked Rango to load the bases. The strategy worked, as Denman got Anderson to hit a grounder that led to a force at the plate, then threw a third strike past Kernahan to end the inning.
EMU mounted a rally with a pair of hard-hit balls in the bottom of the fourth. Denman began with a double to the gap in left-center, and Wisnieski singled to left, with Denman moving to third. Wisnieski advanced to second on the throw to the plate, putting a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs, and prompting the Falcons to replace starter Liz Vrabel with Johnson in the circle.
The next batter, Bluthardt, hit a chopper to Kernahan, who threw home. But, Denman was able to score safely on the fielder's choice to up the lead to 3-0. The Falcons then got the first out of the inning on one of those wacky first-and-third delayed double-steal plays indigenous to softball, with Wisnieski cut down at third base. Bluthardt took second on the play.
Then, however, Liz Flack drew a walk, as ball four was a wild pitch. Bluthardt took third with Flack advancing all the way to second. Katie Grens then singled to plate Bluthardt with the Eagles' fourth run.
Grutza grounded the ball back to the circle, but reached on a throwing error as Flack scored and Grens moved to third. Johnson got Hann to pop up to the circle for the second out, and got Gulliver to pop up to Rango, mercifully ending the inning.
The home team added to the lead, however, in the fifth. Clark drew a leadoff walk, and took two more bases on a stolen base and an error. Johnson got Denman to fly out to left for the first out, but Wisnieski's suicide squeeze bunt was perfect, as Clark scored on the infield single.
Meanwhile, Denman took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. She walked Rango to begin that frame, and issued a one-out walk to Kernahan, but got a popup for the second out. But, Habicht spoiled the no-hit bid with a hard grounder toward third. Third baseman Flack made a stab at the ball, and deflected it toward Clark. The Eagle shortstop came up firing, but could not relay to first in time, and Habicht was safe to load the bases.
Denman, however, got pinch-hitter Ashley Zirkle to hit a grounder to third for a game-ending fielder's choice. She picked up her second win of the series, improving to 5-5 with the complete-game shutout. Denman issued four walks and struck out four batters.
Vrabel, the first of three Falcon hurlers, took the loss to drop to 14-14. She allowed three runs on four hits in three-plus innings. Johnson gave up three runs (two earned), two hits and two walks in her two innings of work, while Heimrich pitched a scoreless sixth frame, allowing one hit. Each of the three had one strikeout apiece.
Denman and Wisnieski each had two hits to pace the Eagles' seven-hit attack. Denman scored two runs and drove in two runs, while Clark also had two runs scored.
The Falcons now prepare for a season-ending three-game series vs. MAC-leading Central Michigan University. BGSU will host the Chippewas for a Saturday (May 8) doubleheader and a Sunday (May 9) single game, with action set to begin at the BGSU Softball Field at 1:00 p.m. each day.
NOTES
MAC STANDINGS (through Sunday's games)
WEST DIVISION EAST DIVISION Central Michigan ... 19- 2 (.905) Kent State ....... 14- 4 (.778) Western Michigan ... 13- 7 (.650) Ohio ............. 11- 7 (.611) Bowling Green ...... 12- 9 (.571) Miami ............ 12- 9 (.571) Ball State ......... 6-14 (.300) Marshall ......... 10-11 (.476) Northern Illinois .. 6-14 (.300) Buffalo .......... 8- 9 (.471) Eastern Michigan ... 5-13 (.278) Akron ............ 6-12 (.333) Toledo ............. 4-15 (.211)
