Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
PURDUE
Falcons Take Two in Tampa
March 18, 2006 | Softball
March 18, 2006
TAMPA, Fla. - The Bowling Green State University softball team picked up a pair of wins in Saturday (March 18) action at the Speedline Invitational in Tampa, Fla. The Falcons posted shutouts over Winthrop and Purdue, with a 2-0 win over the Eagles and a 6-0 victory against the Boilermakers.
With the wins, the Falcons are now 13-8 on the season and 3-1 on the weekend. In the four games at the Speedline Invitational to date, the Falcons have scored a total of 18 runs and allowed just one.
 Junior Lauren Hoffman, one day after hitting her first career homer, had the game-winning RBI vs. Purdue  |
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Vrabel allowed only three hits in her win, walking two batters while striking out 12.
The teams combined for just two hits over the first two innings before Baca's two-out round-tripper in the bottom of the third. The next inning, senior Gina Rango led off with a single, and moved to second when sophomore Allison Vallas was hit by a pitch. Freshman Hayley Wiemer's sacrifice bunt moved the runners up one base each, and a bunt by Lindsay Heimrich scored Rango for the game's second and final run.
Six different Falcons had one hit apiece in the game.
In the Purdue contest, the Falcons got single runs in the fourth and sixth innings, before breaking the game open with a four-spot in the seventh.
Wiemer fired a complete-game three-hitter in earning the shutout. She did not walk a batter, striking out six in the win. The Boilermakers put two runners on base in the fourth inning, on a two-out error and a single, but Wiemer got an inning-ending popup.
In the sixth, another BG error put the leadoff runner aboard for Purdue. After a fielder's choice produced the first out, a bunt single put runners at first and second, and a groundout moved both players into scoring position. But, Wiemer got an infield popup to end that threat.
Meanwhile, BG got a fourth-inning run, which would prove to be all the scoring the Falcons would need. Rango led off the inning with a single through the left side of the Purdue infield, and freshman Desiree Miller advanced her to second with a sacrifice bunt.
Vallas followed with a single to left, sending Rango to third. After Purdue hurler Diana LaRiva got a popup for the second out, pinch-hitter Lauren Hoffman came through with an RBI single to center, plating Rango with the only run the Falcons would need.
BG doubled the lead in the sixth, with Miller reaching on a one-out error. Vallas roped a double to left-center to move pinch-runner Kari Steigerwald to third base, and Wiemer's sacrifice bunt resulted in all BG runners advancing safely, as Steigerwald scored.
In the seventh, junior Megan McPherson singled to begin the inning, and sophomore Dawnjene DeLong sacrificed her to second. Baca then singled to score McPherson, and Baca took second on the throw home.
Rango's infield hit moved Baca to third, before Miller singled to plate Baca and advance Rango to second bases. A grounder to the right side of the infield put Miller and Rango in scoring position, and Wiemer's single up the middle scored both runners for a six-run lead. Wiemer closed out the shutout with a one-two-three bottom of the seventh.
The Falcons pounded out 10 hits, with Baca, Rango and Vallas collecting two apiece. Rango scored two runs, while Wiemer drove in three.
BGSU returns to the diamond to face Fordham in Sunday action (March 19). That game will begin at 10:30 a.m.
