Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MIAMI (OH)
Miami Hangs on to Edge Falcons, 2-1
May 13, 2005 | Softball
May 13, 2005
AKRON, Ohio - Sometimes, the difference between winning and losing can be just a few feet.
Such was the case in Miami University's 2-1 victory over the Bowling Green State University softball team Friday afternoon (May 13). The loss knocked the Falcons out of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Firestone Stadium.
With the victory, the RedHawks improve to 33-24 on the season, and MU advances to Saturday's tournament championship game. The Falcons finish with an overall record of 29-30, and BGSU bows out of the tourney with a 2-2 record.
The RedHawks outhit the Brown and Orange by a 5-4 count in the game, but it was several other bounces that may have made the difference.
The teams each went down one-two-three in the opening inning, but the RedHawks took a second-inning lead when Christine Bills homered to left with two outs off Falcon freshman Emily Gouge.
Miami starter Jackie Poggendorf sailed through the first two innings, retiring all six batters and throwing 17 of her 20 pitches for strikes during that time. She retired the first batter in the third inning before issuing a walk to Gouge, but then got back-to-back infield popups to keep the Falcons scoreless.
The RedHawks had something brewing in the fourth inning, as Kristen Hays led off with a bloop single to shallow right, and Breanna Robinson followed with a sacrifice bunt. Robinson was safe at first on a BG throwing error. Gouge got the next batter, Bills, to foul out to Gina Rango at third base for the first out, and induced Leslie Macedo to ground into a force play at second. The throw to first, however, was off line, enabling Hays to score and Macedo to move to second.
Then, Jamie Arundel singled to put runners at the corners and bring junior Liz Vrabel into the game. Vrabel proceeded to strike out Jessica Moore to end the inning. Two of Miami's hits, and both BGSU errors in the game, came in that fateful fourth frame.
BGSU cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Rango hit a liner off the third baseman's glove for the Falcons' first hit of the game. She took second on a Poggendorf wild pitch, and scored when sophomore Jeanine Baca roped Poggendorf's next offering to the wall in center for an RBI double. The next batter, senior Kristen Anderson, battled through a nine-pitch at-bat before lining a ball to right-center. The ball held up just enough, however, for rightfielder Bills to make the catch for the third out.
Freshman Allison Vallas narrowly missed giving the Falcons the lead in the sixth. With sophomore Emmy Ramsey at first base, Vallas, who had homered in the first inning of Friday morning's game vs. Western Michigan, hit a long fly to right off of MU reliever Courtney Salmon, but the ball curved just foul.
Vrabel, the 2005 MAC Pitcher of the Year, set down the RedHawks in order in the top of the seventh, striking out a pair of batters in the process, and the Falcons had one more chance.
Rango, the league's player of the year, began the seventh by crushing a ball to leftfield for a base hit. The liner may have gotten past MU's Robinson, but was hit right at her, taking one bounce and hitting the leftfielder. As a result, the ball stayed in front of her, and Rango was forced to stop at first base.
Salmon got a strikeout for the first out of the inning, and on the next pitch, senior Kristen Anderson hit a popup that was dropped by the MU second baseman in the vicinity of the right-field foul line, with Rango advancing to second. The umpire ruled, however, that the ball was foul, and instead of two runners aboard, the Falcons had a runner at first with one out.
Salmon then got a fly ball for the second out, and a strikeout after a long at-bat to end the game.
Poggendorf picked up the win, while Salmon was credited with the save for the RedHawks. Poggendorf allowed BG's run and two hits in her five innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. Salmon gave up two hits in her two innings of relief, striking out a pair of hitters.
Gouge took the loss to drop to 6-7. The freshman allowed four hits and a pair of runs in her three-and-two-thirds innings of work, with one walk and three strikeouts. Vrabel, who was masterful all tournament long, gave up just one hit and did not walk a batter. Four of her 10 outs came via strikeout.
For the Falcons, Rango had two of the team's four hits, scoring the lone run. Baca and sophomore Megan McPherson each had one hit for the Brown and Orange. Five different Miami players had a hit apiece.
BGSU had just one senior, Anderson, on the 17-member team. Anderson celebrated her 22nd birthday on Friday.
NOTES FROM FRIDAY
