Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Falcons, Huskies Battle to Saturday Split
April 02, 2005 | Softball
April 2, 2005
Game 1 stats - BGSU 2, Northern Illinois 1
Game 2 stats - Northern Illinois 4, BGSU 3
DeKALB, Ill. - Host Northern Illinois University rallied from a three-run deficit to post a 4-3 victory over the Bowling Green State University softball team and earn a split of the teams' Saturday (April 2) doubleheader. The Falcons won the opening game by a 2-1 score in the Mid-American Conference twinbill at Mary M. Bell Field.
The Falcons are now 11-18 overall and 2-2 in MAC play this season, while the Huskies are 16-10 and 3-1.
On a sunny, breezy day, the teams played two scoreless innings to start the first game. With one out in the first, sophomore Megan McPherson roped the first pitch she saw over rightfielder Kathy Dearborn's head for a triple, her first of the season and the second of her career. But, McPherson was stranded at third, as NIU starter Lindsey LaChiana got a strikeout and a foul pop to end the threat.
For the Huskies, Toni Del Toro led off the bottom of the second by hitting junior Liz Vrabel's first pitch into centerfield for a single. Vrabel responded by striking out Ellen Stoddard and Dearborn, before Megan Meyer drew a two-out walk. Elise Jamrozy, however, became Vrabel's fifth strikeout victim of the day.
With one out in the third, Jeanine Baca ripped a LaChiana offering off the top of the wall in leftfield for a double, missing a homerun by only a foot or two. Baca took third on McPherson's one-hopper back to the circle, and scored on Gina Rango's single down the left-field line, just past the glove of diving third baseman Stoddard.
The Huskies threatened in the fourth. Del Toro picked up her second hit, and the Huskies' second hit, of the game, and Stoddard bunted pinch-runner Jenna Mitchell to second base. The next hitter, Dearborn, singled to center, but centerfielder Baca fielded the ball and came up throwing, gunning down Mitchell at the plate. Catcher Abby Habicht applied the tag to end the inning.
Jamrozy gave a ball a ride in the bottom of the fifth, but sophomore Kari Steigerwald made a nice running catch on the warning track for the second out of that inning. Vrabel then got an inning-ending popup to the circle.
In the sixth, McPherson legged a hit to shallow right-center into a double to lead off the inning. The next batter, Rango, hit a ball back toward the circle, but LaChiana made a nice lunging stab of the ball and threw out McPherson at third. The next batter, freshman Allison Vallas, hit a grounder to second base, but both runners were safe when Rango beat second baseman Meyer's relay to second. But, Rango was erased at third base on junior Lindsay Heimrich's grounder, and LaChiana got senior Kristen Anderson to fly out to left.
The top of the order was up for the Huskies, and Kelly Park led off the bottom half of the sixth with a double to right-center, putting the tying run in scoring position. The next hitter, Therese Harper, popped up on a bunt attempt, with Vrabel making the catch for the first out. But, on the very next pitch, Park took third on a wild pitch.
That brought the Huskies' three hitter, Kelly Drozd, to the plate, and she lifted a ball to centerfield that was deep enough to plate Park and tie the game. Vrabel got Del Toro to fly out to left to end the inning, but the score was knotted at one run apiece, heading to the seventh.
Freshman D.J. DeLong lined the first pitch of the seventh inning just to the right of the second-base bag for a single. Habicht's bunt on the very next pitch sent DeLong to second. Then, on the first pitch of the next at-bat, pinch-hitter Natalie Armintrout's grounder eluded the backhand try of second baseman Meyer. The ball rolled into shallow right-center as DeLong came around to score easily and give the Falcons the lead once again.
Vrabel faced the Huskies' 4-5-6 hitters to start the bottom of the seventh. Stoddard, the team's leading hitter with a .408 batting average entering the day, worked Vrabel for a walk. But, the Falcon junior got Dearborn to hit a popup to Anderson in shallow right for the first out of the inning.
Meyer tried to bunt Stoddard to second, but Vrabel's throw to shortstop DeLong was in time for the force. Then, Vrabel threw a called strike three past Jamrozy to end the game.
Vrabel picked up her seventh victory of the season with a complete-game four-hitter. The junior walked two batters and struck out seven. LaChiana, for her part, allowed just one earned run and five hits, with no walks and two whiffs.
At the plate, McPherson led the Brown and Orange with a 2-for-4 game. Del Toro was 2-for-3 for the hosts.
In the second game, each team had a two-out baserunner in the first inning, and each runner - BGSU's Rango and NIU's Drozd - stole second. But, each runner was stranded there, as NIU starter Dearborn got a grounder, and BGSU hurler Heimrich struck out Del Toro to end the bottom of the first.
Heimrich's one-out walk and Anderson's single up the middle gave the Falcons a pair of second-inning baserunners, but Dearborn got a strikeout for the second out. Habicht's sharp single to left loaded the bases, but reached leftfielder Park too quickly for Heimrich to try to score. The next batter, Baca, hit a grounder to the left of second base. NIU shortstop Krista McPherson could not field the ball cleanly, however, and her throw to first was late as Heimrich crossed the plate with the game's first run.
BGSU's McPherson made the error by NIU's McPherson all the more costly, hitting a Dearborn offering up the middle to score both Habicht and Anderson and give the Brown and Orange a three-run lead.
With two outs in the bottom of the second, Meyer got the Huskies' first hit with a grounder to the hole on the left side. Third baseman Rango crossed in front of shortstop DeLong, and DeLong came up with the ball, but was forced to double-pump as Rango was in between her and first base. But, Heimrich got a strikeout of Lauren Von Holst for the third out.
The Huskies scored a third-inning run, after putting runners at the corners with one out. Park hit a seeing-eye single through the right side of the BG infield, and Harper reached on a BG error, with Park advancing all the way to third. Heimrich got Drozd to hit a soft grounder to the right side for the second out, with Harper taking second. Del Toro drew a walk to load the bases. With Stoddard at the plate, a wild pitch brought Park home to cut the lead to 3-1 and put the tying runs in scoring position. Heimrich went to a 3-1 count on Stoddard, but got a grounder to Rango for the third out.
The Falcons looked to be in business in the fourth, but Dearborn worked out of a jam. Armintrout led off with a single, and Habicht ripped a double to left-field wall to put runners at second and third with no outs. Baca's hard-hit ball was right to the shortstop, who threw to first for the first out, with the runners forced to hold their bases. McPherson was nipped at first on a bunt try for the second out, and the Huskies intentionally walked Rango to load the bases for Vallas. The strategy paid off, as the Falcon freshman was out by a step on a slow roller to second.
It was the Huskies' turn to put some runners aboard in the bottom of the fourth. Dearborn and Meyer each singled to start the inning, and the home team cashed in when Von Holst homered to right to give Northern a 4-3 lead.
DeLong led off the fifth inning with a single, and Heimrich bunted her to second. Anderson's grounder to the right side moved DeLong to third with two outs, but Dearborn got out of the inning, as Armintrout was out at first on a grounder to second.
LaChiana relieved Dearborn in the sixth, and didn't exactly fool the BG batters, but got a one-two-three inning. Habicht hit a fly ball to left for the first out, and Baca's liner was speared by a leaping Stoddard at third base for the second out. McPherson's soft liner was grabbed by LaChiana at her shoetops to retire the side.
In the seventh, Rango led off with a sharp single through the right side, but LaChiana got a strikeout for the first out. Rango stole second with one out, but another strikeout was the second out of the inning, and a grounder to short ended the game and gave the Huskies a split of the twinbill.
Heimrich took the loss, allowing five hits in er complete-game effort. She walked two batters and struck out seven. Dearborn earned the win for the hosts, improving to 5-4 on the year. She allowed three runs (all unearned) in five innings, giving up seven hits while walking two and striking out two.
LaChiana picked up her first save as a Huskie, with two innings of one-hit shutout relief. She struck out two batters in her second-game stint.
At the plate, Rango was 2-for-3 with a pair of stolen bases, while Habicht also had a pair of hits in three at-bats. Meyer led the Huskies with two hits, while Von Holst, of course, provided the big blow with the three-run homer.
The teams return to Mary M. Bell Field for a Sunday (April 3) single game to complete the series.
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