Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
EASTERN MICHIGAN
Falcons Down Eastern, 2-1, to Stay Alive in MAC Tournament
May 12, 2005 | Softball
May 12, 2005
AKRON, Ohio - On Thursday (May 12), for the second day in a row, the Bowling Green State University softball team received solid pitching. In the team's second game in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, the Falcons also received timely hitting, and the result was a 2-1 victory over Eastern Michigan University at Firestone Stadium.
With the victory, the sixth-seeded Falcons improve to 28-29 on the season, and BGSU remains alive in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament. Eastern Michigan, seeded seventh, bows out of the tournament with an 0-2 mark, and the Eagles finish the 2005 season with an overall record of 17-24.
Freshman Emily Gouge and junior Liz Vrabel combined on a three-hitter, and the Falcons bunched together four hits in the third inning to score a pair of runs. EMU's lone run came on a fifth-inning homer by Katie Grens.
BGSU advanced a runner as far as third base in the opening inning. Freshman Allison Vallas drew a two-out walk and moved up on a pair of wild pitches by EMU starter Nikki Denman. But, Vallas was stranded there, as Denman got a grounder to retire the side.
Neither team got a hit until the bottom of the second, when Lindsay Schmid lined a ball to the wall in centerfield. But, sophomore Jeanine Baca played the ball off the wall and held Schmid to a leadoff single.
In the third, the Falcons got the first two batters aboard. Gouge drew a leadoff walk, and a nice piece of hitting by junior Abby Habicht moved pinch-runner Emmy Ramsey to second. Habicht showed bunt, then pulled the bat back and poked the ball past the charging third baseman for a single. Denman got a strikeout, but the runners advanced to second and third, respectively, as the ball got away from the catcher.
The next hitter, junior Lindsay Heimrich, executed the suicide squeeze to perfection, laying down a bunt as Ramsey steamed toward the plate. Ramsey scored standing, and the Falcons had their first run of the tournament plus runners at the corners with one out.
Vallas followed with a single up the middle, scoring Habicht with the Falcons' second run. In all, BGSU had four hits in the inning.
Vrabel entered the game in relief of Gouge to begin the third inning. She retired the first seven batters she faced, five by strikeout, before Grens homered on a 3-2 pitch with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. Vrabel responded by striking out Ashley Strauss, and a Lauren Allen line drive to left ended the frame.
In the Eastern sixth, Lauren Clark laced a one-out double to put the tying run in scoring position. On the next pitch, however, Vrabel got pinch-hitter Kayla Bluthardt to fly out to Vallas in leftfield for the second out, then got Denman to hit a grounder back to the circle to leave Clark stranded at second.
In the seventh, the Falcons missed an opportunity to increase the lead. Ramsey led off by beating out a grounder to short for a single. Habicht worked Denman to a full count, then hit a fly ball to leftfield that Kelly Gulliver could not come up with, and the Falcons had runners at first and second.
Sophomore Megan McPherson attempted to bunt the next pitch, but the umpire ruled that she was out of the box when she made contact with the ball, for the Falcons' first out. A fielder's choice grounder produced the second out of the inning, and a screaming liner by Vallas was right at Gulliver.
In the bottom of the seventh, Vrabel and EMU cleanup hitter Liz Flack battled to a full count, and Flack fouled off a pitch before swinging at and missing a Vrabel offering for out number one. Vrabel got Lindsey Schmid to ground out to McPherson at second base, then struck out Grens.
Six different Falcons had one hit apiece, with Heimrich and Vallas picking up BGSU's runs batted in. EMU starter Denman allowed two runs and the six hits, walking four batters and striking out three, but dropped to 4-7.
Gouge threw two innings of one-hit shutout ball, with two strikeouts. Vrabel picked up the win with five innings of one-run, two-hit relief. She struck out eight batters and, like Gouge, did not issue a walk.
The Falcons will face the loser of Thursday's final game, between Marshall and Western Michigan. BGSU's next game is scheduled for an 11:00 a.m. start Friday.
