Bowling Green State University Athletics
Vrabel, Zirkle Sweep MAC Weekly Awards
April 17, 2006 | Softball
April 17, 2006
CLEVELAND, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Bowling Green State University softball standouts Ashley Zirkle and Liz Vrabel have swept the Mid-American Conference weekly honors, the league office announced Monday afternoon (April 17). Zirkle has been named the MAC Player of the Week for the East Division, while Vrabel is the league's Pitcher of the Week.
Vrabel, a senior, earns the honor for the third time this season and the ninth time in her storied Falcon career, while Zirkle, a junior, picks up the first league weekly award of her BGSU tenure.
 Ashley Zirkle was named the MAC's Player of the Week for the East Division after hitting .583 in MAC play over the weekend  |
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In that game in Muncie, she had two doubles and a homer among her four hits, scoring three runs and driving in three. Zirkle set career bests for hits, runs and doubles, while the RBI total fell just one shy of her career high.
The next day at Miami, Zirkle was 2-for-3 with two more doubles. Prior to Friday, Zirkle had a total of six extra-base hits in 70 career games, before belting out five extra-base knocks in the next two contests. She had four doubles over those two games, after hitting a total of two in her career prior to that time.
Zirkle had another hit and an RBI in the Falcons' 10-0 win over the RedHawks on Sunday (April 16). On the weekend, she had a team-best slugging percentage of 1.167, with four runs scored, four doubles, the homer and five RBI.
Vrabel, a native of Allison Park, Pa. (North Allegheny HS), had a 3-0 record and a perfect earned-run average of 0.00 last week. She did not allow a run in her four appearances, totalling 17 1/3 innings.
Vrabel fired a complete-game, two-hit shutout in Friday's opener at BSU, a 4-0 Falcon win. That win enabled her to tie the school record for career shutouts (includes both complete-game and combined shutouts). In the nightcap, Vrabel picked up the win in relief, with three innings of scoreless, two-hit ball en route to breaking that record.
On Saturday, Vrabel also pitched in relief, needing just one pitch to get an out in her stint at Miami. The next day, she capped her weekend with a four-hit shutout in the win over the RedHawks. On the week, Vrabel allowed opponents to hit just .133 against her, giving up only eight hits in those 17 1/3 innings of action. She walked two hitters and struck out 12.
This season, Zirkle is batting .268 with three homers and 13 RBI, along with a slugging percentage of .500. In MAC action, she is batting .367 with team-high totals of three round-trippers and 12 RBI, and also paces the Falcons with a slugging pct. of .800. Vrabel is 13-8 on the year, with a 1.51 ERA, 144 strikeouts and an opponent BA of .180. She has a record of 4-2 in the MAC, with a 1.45 ERA.
Zirkle and Vrabel swept the East Division honors for this week, while a pair of Western Michigan players, Amanda Heckaman and Krysten Shumaker, picked up Player- and Pitcher-of-the-Week honors, respectively, for the West Division.
The Falcons, 26-16 overall and a 9-3 in MAC play, step outside of league action with a Tuesday (April 18) home doubleheader vs. Oakland, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Then, the Falcons host Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan for two games apiece this weekend at the BGSU Softball Field.
