Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head to Worth Invitational
March 03, 2005 | Softball
March 3, 2005
BGSU Release (5 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team heads westward for a lengthy trip which will include two tournaments ... the Falcons of seventh-year head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw first travel to Fullerton, Calif., for the Worth Invitational this Friday through Sunday (March 4-6) ... BGSU will play both Minnesota and Pacific on Friday, before meeting host Cal State Fullerton and Nevada the following day ... then, the Falcons close the tourney with a Sunday contest vs. Northwestern ... both Pacific and Northwestern are ranked among the top-25 teams in the country ... BGSU's complete weekend schedule follows:
Titan Softball Complex Fullerton, Calif. all times local (Pacific) Friday, March 4 Bowling Green vs. Minnesota, 9:00 a.m. Bowling Green vs. #24 Pacific, 1:30 p.m.Saturday, March 5 Bowling Green at Cal State Fullerton, 1:30 p.m. Bowling Green vs. Nevada, 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 6 Bowling Green vs. #23 Northwestern, 9:00 a.m.
The complete schedule for the three-day, 10-team tournament can be found on Cal State Fullerton's athletics web site, at: www.TitanSports.org/softball/2005/worth.html
The Falcons are looking for the first win of the 2005 season, after opening the year with an 0-6 record at the Frost Classic in Chattanooga, Tenn. ... after the Worth Invitational, the Brown and Orange will head to Las Vegas, Nev., for the Eller Stadium Media Classic, hosted by UNLV ... the Falcons are scheduled to play a total of seven games there, from Thursday through Sunday, March 10-13.
BGSU is coming off a 2004 season that saw the team finish 34-30 overall, and place third in the Mid-American Conference's West Division with a league mark of 13-11 ... the Falcons, the sixth seed for the six-team MAC Tournament, proceeded to lose the opening game, then reel off five consecutive wins to take the title and advance to NCAA Regional play.
VRABEL NAMED MAC PITCHER OF WEEK
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HEAD COACH Leigh Ross-Shaw
Leigh Ross-Shaw, the winningest coach in school history, is in her seventh season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons ... she currently has an overall record of 171-151-2 (.531) ... Ross-Shaw is also the school's leader in MAC games, with a league mark of 86-56 (.606) ... she ranks first in BG history in conference winning percentage, and is second in overall winning pct., trailing only Sandy Haines (.557; 57-45-3).
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 has become the only head coach in school history with three 30-win seasons ... and, of course, she continues to set new school marks with each win.
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, a 1992 graduate of the Univ. 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 2001, she was inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame.
ASSISTANT COACH Kyle Jamieson
Kyle Jamieson is in his second season on Ross-Shaw's staff ... 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 had MAC ties prior to his arrival at BG, having spent the 2000 season on the staff at Toledo.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
Bowling Green enters the weekend with a record of 0-6 on the young season ... the Falcons dropped six games at last weekend's (Feb. 25-27) Frost Classic in Chattanooga, as the BG offense was held to a .164 batting average, five runs and no extra-base hits ... junior Gina Rango is hitting a team-high .444, while sophomore Angie Ortiz is batting .273 in her first playing season ... freshman Allison Vallas is hitting .250 with a team-high two runs batted in ... in the circle, junior Liz Vrabel has a 2.80 ERA, while junior Lindsay Heimrich and freshman Emily Gouge have ERAs of 3.23 and 4.67, respectively ... each pitcher has a record of 0-2 ... the Falcons' fielding percentage is an impressive .984, as BG was charged with just three errors in 186 total chances in Chattanooga.
THE OPPONENTS
Minnesota has a 9-6 overall record on the young season, after splitting four games at Louisville's Red & Black Classic last weekend ... senior Stephanie Sward is batting a team-high .412, while sophomore Megan Higgenbotham is hitting .325 and leads the Gophers with eight RBI ... three pitchers have started at least four games this year, with freshman Katie Dalen possessing a team-low ERA of 1.30 and a 2-1 record ... senior Lyn Peyer (4-3, 1.54 ERA) leads the Gophers in wins ... last year, Minnesota was 33-23 overall and finished fifth in the Big Ten Conference with a 10-10 league mark ... Lisa Bernstein and Julie Standering are co-head coaches of the Gophers ... the school's athletics web site is www.gophersports.com.
Pacific is 9-3 on the season, and the Tigers are ranked #24 in the nation, according to the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll ... Pacific went 3-2 at last weekend's Palm Springs (Calif.) Classic, with two of the wins coming over Ohio State and Notre Dame ... the Tigers also have a victory over #5 Stanford this season ... senior Michelle Anunciation leads the Tigers with a .439 batting average, while sophomore Jennifer Curtier has a team-leading 15 RBI ... senior pitcher Natalie King leads the squad with six wins (6-1) and a 3.11 ERA ... last season, Pacific went 36-23 overall and finished fourth in the Big West Conference with a 12-9 record ... head coach Brian Kolze has a record of 393-297-1 in his 13th season ... the school's athletics web site is www.pacifictigers.com.
Host Cal State Fullerton is 4-5 on the year, after going 2-3 at the Palm Springs Tournament last weekend ... the Titans picked up wins over two nationally-ranked teams, #3 UCLA and #7 Georgia, earlier this season, with the latter win coming by a 9-1 score ... senior Lindsey Bashor is hitting .440 on the year, with sophomore Ashley Van Boxmeer batting .417 ... each player has two homeruns and six RBI ... in the circle, sophomore Candice Baker is 3-1 with a 1.93 ERA ... a year ago, the Titans 18-34 and finished sixth in the Big West with a 7-14 conference mark ... head coach Michelle Gromacki is 209-96 in her sixth season ... the school's athletics web site is www.TitanSports.org.
Nevada is 5-8 this season to date, and the Wolf Pack won four of five games at a tournament in San Diego last weekend ... sophomore Jiliane Hartfiel is hitting .353, with freshman Kaycee Wilcks batting .310 ... four pitchers have seen work for the Pack to date, with freshman Jordan McPherson 1-1 with an ERA of just 1.02 ... junior Candice Rainwater is 3-2 with a 1.79 ERA this spring ... last year, Nevada set a school record for wins, going 38-28 overall and finishing third in the Western Athletic Conference with a 13-11 league slate ... the program is in just its third year after a lengthy hiatus, as Nevada did not sponsor softball between 1989 and 2003 ... head coach Michelle Gardner is 65-71 in her third season ... the school's athletics web site is nevadawolfpack.com.
Northwestern is 11-4 on the year, and the Wildcats are ranked 23rd in the nation ... NU has won seven of the last eight games, including a 4-1 mark with wins over three nationally-ranked teams (Long Beach State, Washington and Pacific) at last weekend's Palm Springs Tournament ... one of the Wildcats' four losses this season was a 4-3 setback vs. #2 Arizona ... four players already have double-digit RBI totals this year ... sophomore Garland Cooper has a team-high .390 batting average, with freshman Stephanie Churchwell hitting .365 and junior Kristen Amegin at .278 with five HR ... sophomore Eileen Canney has a 6-2 record and a 1.14 ERA this spring, while junior Courtnay Foster is 5-2 with an ERA of 1.41 and an opponent batting average of .137 ... a year ago, Northwestern finished 34-20 overall and 12-8 in the Big Ten, good for fourth place ... Katie Drahan is 105-61-1 in her fourth season, all in Evanston ... the school's athletics web site is NUsports.com.
THE SERIES
The Falcons trail Minnesota, 2-0, in the all-time series between teams, with the lone meetings coming in 1998 ... the Gophers pasted the Falcons, 12-1, in five innings, but the teams then battled through an eight-inning game the next day, with Minnesota winning by a 5-3 count (March 7-8, 1998) ... both games took place at the Aggie II Invitational in College Station, Texas.
Pacific holds a 3-2 series lead over BGSU, with the last meeting coming in 2001 ... the Falcons picked up an 8-3 win in that season's opening game, at the Arizona Classic in Tucson (Feb. 16, 2001) ... BGSU faced Pacific in the first tournament of the season four times in five years, culminating with that 2001 meeting.
Cal State Fullerton has won all five previous meetings with BG, with the last coming on March 24, 1995 ... the Titans won that game by a 1-0 count at the school's own PONY-Louisville Slugger Tournament ... BGSU's first NCAA Regional appearance came vs. the Titans, as CS Fullerton swept a pair of home games from the Falcons in May of 1982.
Northwestern holds a 5-1 series edge over the Brown and Orange, including a 3-1 victory in the teams' last meeting 12 years ago (March 26, 1993) ... that game came at the National Invitation Tournament in Sunnyvale, Calif.
BGSU and Nevada have never met on the softball diamond.
FALCONS PICKED SECOND
Bowling Green was picked to finish second in the MAC's West Division in 2005 ... the poll is a result of voting by the league's 13 head coaches ... Miami and Central Michigan were picked to win their respective divisions, with MU predicted to win the MAC Tournament.
FALCON NOTES
