Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
AKRON
Falcons Go Yard in Nightcap for Split with Zips
April 07, 2006 | Softball
April 7, 2006
Akron 3, Bowling Green 1 -- Final Stats
Bowling Green 3, Akron 0 -- Final Stats
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - A pair of Bowling Green State University seniors homered, and freshman Hayley Wiemer fired a two-hit shutout as the Falcons posted a 3-0 win over the University of Akron Friday afternoon (April 7). The win salvaged a split of the teams' Mid-American Conference doubleheader, as the visiting Zips had picked up a 3-1 victory in the opener.
Through Friday's play, the Falcons are now 22-13 overall and atop the MAC's East Division with a 5-1 league record. UA is now 13-15 and 4-2, respectively.
Seniors Abby Habicht and Gina Rango had the Falcons' second-game homeruns, as the teams and their diehard fans sat through intermittent rain all afternoon, and a pair of weather delays in the second contest.
In the opening game, the Zips got on the scoreboard with an unearned run in the top of the first inning. With one out, Sara Zilles singled to leftfield off of Falcon starter Liz Vrabel. Zilles stole second, and came around to score when Julie Boyes hit a grounder to the right side of the infield that was mishandled for an error.
The unearned run was the first run allowed by the Falcons in the first inning this season.
The Falcons got an infield single from junior Jeanine Baca to begin the bottom of the second, and she moved up a base when freshman Desiree Miller was hit by a Megan MacKenzie pitch. The UA hurler, however, recovered to get a strikeout and a pair of grounders to escape the jam.
The Akron bats were at it again in the top of the third, as MacKenzie led off with a double to rightfield, and Carrese Moody popped up a bunt that landed just to the left of the pitcher's circle for a base hit over the charging BG infielders, putting runners at the corners. Moody stole second to put both UA runners in scoring position.
Vrabel got Zilles to pop up to second baseman Megan McPherson for the first out, but Boyes followed with a seeing-eye single through the BG infield to score a pair of runs and give the Zips a 3-0 lead.
UA put several more hitters aboard, on a Cali Stratton walk and a Jamie Stanclift single, but Vrabel got a groundout to end the inning.
The Zips threatened yet again in the fourth, putting two runners in scoring position with two down, but Vrabel got Zilles to hit a one-hopper back to the circle. Vrabel knocked down the ball, and was able to turn around, grab it and fire to first just in time for the third out.
BGSU got on the scoreboard against UA pitcher MacKenzie in the bottom of the fourth. Sophomore Allison Vallas led off with a double to left, and Baca followed with an infield single. Pinch-runner Emmy Ramsey was forced to hold at second on the play, but Miller moved both runners up a base with a sacrifice bunt.
The next hitter, Habicht, followed with a single through the left side of the infield that plated Ramsey with the Falcons' first run. MacKenzie, however, was able to get a groundout and a strikeout to escape further damage.
The Zips, once again, put some runners aboard in the fifth. Boyes led off with a walk, but was erased on a fielder's choice grounder by Stratton. Stanclift, however, followed with a single to left, but Vrabel got Lisa McLean to pop up, with shortstop Dawnjene DeLong making a nice running catch in shallow leftfield. Then, Vrabel threw a third strike past Jaclyn Spirtos to end the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Vrabel struck out the side, and the Falcons took that momentum into the bottom of the inning. With one out, Miller singled up the middle, and Habicht lined a ball into the left-field corner for a double, putting runners at second and third. But, MacKenzie recovered to get a pair of grounders back to the circle, for back-to-back 1-3 putouts, and the game remained 3-1.
The Falcons made a pair of solid defensive plays in the top of the seventh, as leftfielder Vallas had a diving catch of a Stratton fly ball in foul territory for the second out, and DeLong made a leaping grab of a Stanclift liner that seemed ticketed for left-center.
In the bottom of the seventh, BG had several hard-hit balls, but they were turned into outs. DeLong began with a liner to left that Moody was able to track down. Then, Wiemer's hard grounder was right at first baseman Deanna McCauley for the second out. Rango kept BG's hopes alive with a single up the middle, but a liner by Vallas was right at McCauley to end the game.
MacKenzie picked up the complete-game win for the Zips, allowing nine hits but just one run to improve to 8-10 on the season. She had five strikeouts and did not walk a batter.
Vrabel suffered the loss, giving up three runs (two earned) and 10 hits. The senior issued two walks and had seven strikeouts in dropping to 10-7.
At the plate, Baca, Habicht and Wiemer all had two hits to pace the Falcons. Three Zips -- Boyes, MacKenzie and Stanclift -- had two hits as well, with Boyes picking up a pair of RBI.
In the second game, the Falcons threatened to score right away, as the first three hitters reached base against UA pitcher Boyes. DeLong was hit by a pitch, and Wiemer singled up the middle. Rango followed with a single to right, but DeLong was cut down trying to score for the first out, and Boyes got a strikeout and a grounder to the shortstop to end the threat.
After starting pitcher Wiemer set down the Zips in order in the top of the second, the Falcons got on the board in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Habicht homered to left to give BG a 1-0 lead. The homer was the senior's first of the season and the second of her career.
Wiemer got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third, and the Zips never hit a ball out of the infield in the inning. MacKenzie began the frame by hitting a ball deep into the hole at shortstop for a base hit, and McCauley moved her to second with a sac bunt. The next hitter, Spirtos, reached on a fielder's choice, before Wiemer got Zilles to pop up for the second out. But, Moody also reached on infield grounder toward first base, loading the bases. But, Wiemer induced Boyes to hit a grounder toward the second-base bag, and DeLong snared it and tagged the base for the inning-ending force play.
DeLong led off the bottom of the third by ripping a shot off the glove of first baseman McCauley and down the right-field line for a double. One batter later, Rango stepped to the plate and hit a Boyes offering for a two-run homer to left and a three-run BG lead.
In the fourth, the unpredictable spring weather in Northwest Ohio continued to be just that - unpredictable. With Miller at the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning, the teams were called off the field due to lightning, and the teams headed to their respective dugouts for a delay of 20 minutes.
At precisely 5:00 p.m., the game resumed, but another flash of lightning resulted in a second delay in the top of the fifth inning, which lasted all of 19 minutes.
Akron got a pair of sixth-inning baserunners on two BGSU errors, but, with runners at second and third, Wiemer struck out pinch-hitter Katrina Moffett to retire the side, and she got the Zips one-two-three in the seventh.
Wiemer's complete-game shutout was her second of the season. She allowed two hits and did not walk a batter, while striking out six to improve to 6-6 on the year.
Boyes took the loss for the Zips, falling to 5-5. She gave up three runs and five hits before leaving with one out in the third inning. Boyes had three strikeouts and did not walk a batter.
MacKenzie threw the remaining three-and-two-thirds innings to give her nearly 11 innings, 42 batters faced and a total of 154 pitches on the afternoon. She allowed just one hit in her second-game stint, walking one batter and fanning two.
At the plate, Rango had two hits and two RBI to lead BG's six-hit attack in the nightcap. Habicht, of course, drove in the other run with her solo homer.
On the day, Habicht was 3-for-5 with a double and a homerun, while Wiemer and Rango each had three hits as well.
The Falcons will continue the weekend homestand with single games vs. Ohio University on Saturday (April 8) and Sunday (April 9). Saturday's game begins at 2:00 p.m. at the BGSU Softball Field, with Sunday's first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
NOTES
