Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
VIRGINIA
Falcons Begin 2006 with 3-0 Blanking of Virginia
February 24, 2006 | Softball
Feb. 24, 2006
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Seniors Gina Rango and Liz Vrabel, the 2005 Mid-American Conference Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, picked up right where they left off in 2006, leading the Bowling Green State University softball team to a 3-0 win over the University of Virginia Friday (Feb. 24). The game was the Falcons' first at the Panera Bread Challenge, hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Vrabel fired a complete-game shutout, allowing just two hits while striking out 13 batters. Rango had three of the Falcons' seven hits, including a single in the first inning that plated junior Jeanine Baca with what would prove to be the game-winning run.
The Falcons doubled the lead in the fifth inning, when Baca's infield grounder plated sophomore Dawnjene DeLong. DeLong had led off the inning with a double.
Rango, BGSU's career homerun leader, hit her 17th round-tripper as a Falcon in the sixth, leading off the inning with a homer down the leftfield line to close the scoring.
DeLong had a 2-for-3 performance at the plate, while Baca and senior Abby Habicht had the Falcons' other hits.
Vrabel struck out the side in the first inning, and had five K's through two frames. She walked three batters in the game, and did not allow a hit until Amy McKean's one-out single in the fourth. UVa's only other hit was a leadoff single by Lindsey Pruess in the fifth.
Vrabel posted a double-digit strikeout total for the 17th time in her career. She also has 17 complete-game shutouts as a Falcon, and her total of 13 strikeouts in the game fell just one shy of her career best.
The Falcons snapped a nine-game series losing streak to the Cavaliers. BGSU also opened the 2005 season with a game vs. UVa at a tournament in Chattanooga, but the Brown and Orange fell victim to a shutout en route to an 0-9 start to the season last spring.
The 2006 Falcons, currently 1-0, will return to the diamond to face host Chattanooga late Friday afternoon.
