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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
TOLEDO
Another Walk-Off Win for Rango, Falcons; Senior's Homer Downs Toledo, 6-5
April 30, 2006 | Softball
April 30, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - On 'Senior Day' at the Bowling Green State University Softball Field, one of the finest players in school history capped her home career with an exclamation point. Senior Gina Rango hit a leadoff homerun in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving the Falcons a 6-5, come-from-behind win over the arch-rival University of Toledo Sunday afternoon (April 30).
The win gives the Falcons an overall record of 32-20 and a Mid-American Conference mark of 13-5, and BGSU moves into sole possession of first place in the league's East Division as the regular season enters its final week. The Falcons are a game ahead of Akron, a 1-0 loser to Western Michigan on Sunday. Toledo drops to 13-36 and 4-13, respectively.
The eighth-inning homer capped a monster day for Rango, arguably the top hitter in school history. The North Lima, Ohio, native went 4-for-4 with a pair of homers, three runs scored and two RBI.
Junior Ashley Zirkle helped the Falcons rally from a 5-1 deficit with a sixth-inning grand slam. The walk-off win was the fourth in a row for the Falcons at the BGSU Softball Field.
Rango, who ended the game with a homer, also started the day's scoring with a solo shot. She gave the Brown and Orange an early lead, hitting a Stephanie Moore offering to leftfield with two outs in the first inning.
Toledo had an answer, however, as Erica Singer led off the top of the second inning with a solo homer of her own, to straightaway center. One out later, Danielle Schneider hit a ball off the fence in left, narrowly beating the throw to second for a double. Falcon senior Liz Vrabel got Megan McCauley to hit a fly ball to left for the second out, but Andrea Wabol laced a single to centerfield. Junior Jeanine Baca, however, came up with the ball and fired a strike to catcher Abby Habicht, and the senior applied the tag on Schneider for the third out.
The Rockets mounted a threat again in the third inning. With one out, Leslie Stong laid down a bunt toward the circle, and was safe when the Falcons left first base uncovered. The next hitter, Brie Ford, doubled over the head of BG centerfielder Baca, with Stong taking third. Then, Gina Muratori blooped a ball down the left-field line to that went for a double, scoring Stong to give the Rockets the lead.
Singer followed with a fly ball to center, with Ford tagging and scoring on the sacrifice fly. On the play, the BGSU throw attempting to cut down Muratori at third was off the mark, and Muratori was able to scramble to her feet and race home with the Rockets' third run of the inning, for a 4-1 lead.
For the second consecutive inning, Moore set the Falcons down in order in the bottom of the inning, and the visitors mounted a threat yet again in the fourth. Wabol singled in the hole at shortstop, and Denise Van Vossen saw her grounder find a hole on the right side of the infield to put runners at first and second. Stong then worked sophomore reliever Emily Gouge for a walk to load the bases with just one out.
Ford was the next hitter, and hit a slow roller toward third. Rango charged the roller, grabbing the ball and flipping it to Habicht to force Wabol at the plate for the second out. Gouge then got Muratori to hit a grounder to second baseman Megan McPherson, who fired to first baseman Lindsay Heimrich to get the Falcons out of the jam.
The BG bats, held at bay for several innings, made some noise in the bottom of the fourth. Rango singled up the middle to begin the half-inning, and Vallas followed with an opposite-field single to left to put runners at first and second with no outs. Moore responded, however, by getting the next three batters to escape damage. She a strikeout for the first out, although the runners moved up on a passed ball, then got a grounder which did not allow either runner to advance. Moore completed the inning with a popup to short.
UT was at it again in the top of the sixth, getting a bunt single from Van Vossen and a base hit off the bat of Stong. Gouge got pinch-hitter Sara Agnew to hit a fly ball to center for the second out, with Van Vossen tagging and taking third. Muratori followed with a base hit up the middle to plate Van Vossen with the Rocket's fifth run of the afternoon.
Zirkle and the Falcons made it a brand-new ballgame in the bottom of the sixth. Sophomore Dawnjene DeLong began the inning by reaching on an error, and Rango followed by ripping a ball to left for her third hit of the day. The single put runners on first and second.
Moore got a fly ball for the second out, but Habicht drew a walk to load the bases for Zirkle. The Falcon junior fell behind in the count, 0-2, then hit Moore's next pitch over the left-field fence for a game-tying grand slam. Suddenly, the score was 5-5, and the Falcons had new life.
Neither team scored in the seventh, with McCauley being the only baserunner for either team, on a two-out walk. In the top of the eighth, Gouge set down the Rockets in order, setting the stage for Rango's heroics.
Rango worked the count to 2-1 before hitting the final pitch of her home career over the fence in left-center. The ball dropped just under the scoreboard at 3:12 p.m., and the Falcons had the victory.
Rango's homer made a winner of Gouge, who threw five innings of relief to improve to 8-1 on the year. Gouge allowed one run on six hits, walking two batters and striking out two.
Vrabel, the starter, allowed three runs on six hits in her three innings of action.
Moore took the loss to drop to 6-21 on the year. She allowed seven hits, including three homers, walking one and fanning four.
At the plate, the Rockets held a 12-7 hits advantage. Muratori, Stong, Van Vossen and Wabol all went 2-for-4 on the afternoon, with Muratori and Singer driving in a pair of runs apiece.
The Falcons, of course, were paced by Rango's 4-for-4 day. The senior scored three runs and drove in a pair, on her two solo homers.
Sophomore Allison Vallas had two hits in three at-bats, while Zirkle had four RBI to match her career best. The grand slam was the first of her career.
The Falcons, atop the MAC's East Division, now take a break for exams before heading to Kalamazoo, Mich., to meet West Division-leading WMU. The teams will meet in a Friday (May 5) doubleheader. The Falcons then end the season with a pair of single games vs. Northern Illinois on Saturday and Sunday (May 6-7).
NOTES
BGSU RECORD BOOK: TWO-HOMER GAMES Libby Voshell (March 12, 2001 vs. Illinois) Kandice Machain (March 30, 2002 at Kent State) Gina Rango (April 24, 2004 vs. Northern Illinois) Jeanine Baca (April 29, 2004 at Detroit) Gina Rango (Feb. 25, 2006 vs. UAB) Gina Rango (April 30, 2006 vs. Toledo)
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