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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head to Kalamazoo for Battle of Divisional Leaders
May 04, 2006 | Softball
May 4, 2006
BGSU Notes, Stats & Records (15 pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team is atop the Mid-American Conference's East Division as the final week of the regular season begins ... and, the Falcons of eighth-year head coach Leigh Ross (32-20, 13-5 MAC) control their own destiny in not only the East Division race, but also in the battle for the overall league regular-season title and the top seed for the MAC Tournament ... but, BGSU's road will not be easy ... the Brown and Orange will conclude the regular season with four road games, beginning with a Friday (May 5) doubleheader at Western Michigan University ... Western leads the West Division and owns the league's best overall record ... the first game will begin at 1:00 p.m. at Ebert Field in Kalamazoo, Mich. ... then, the Falcons will continue on to the MAC's 'West Coast' for a pair of games against Northern Illinois University ... BGSU will face the Huskies in a pair of single games at Mary M. Bell Field on Saturday and Sunday (May 6-7) ... Saturday's game will begin at 6:00 p.m. locally (7:00 p.m. Eastern), with Sunday's contest scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. local start (2:00 p.m. Eastern).
THE MAC RACE
With just one weekend left in the regular season, the Falcons control their own destiny in the race for not only the MAC's East Division title, but also the overall crown and the number-one seed for the MAC Tournament ... BGSU has already clinched a tourney berth ... eight teams - the top three from each division plus the next two teams with the best overall winning percentage, regardless of division - will qualify for the double-elimination tournament ... if the season ended today, the Falcons would be the second seed and would open tourney play against one of this weekend's opponents, Northern Illinois ... the overall MAC seeding would be as follows ...
# School MAC Record Remaining Opponents * 1. Western Michigan 15-3 (.833) vs. BGSU, vs. Toledo 2. Bowling Green 13-5 (.722) @WMU, @NIU 3. Kent State 12-5 (.706) vs. Miami, vs. BSU 4. Akron 12-6 (.667) @CMU, @EMU 5. Central Michigan 10-6 (.625) vs. Akron, vs. Ohio 6. Eastern Michigan 11-7 (.611) vs. Ohio, vs. Akron 7. Northern Illinois 8-10 (.444) vs. Toledo, vs. BGSU 8. Miami 7-11 (.389) @KSU, @Buffalo ------------- 9. Ohio 6-12 (.333) @EMU, @CMU 10. Ball State 5-13 (.278) @Buffalo, @KSU 11. Toledo 4-13 (.236) @NIU, @WMU 12. Buffalo 2-14 (.125) vs. BSU, vs. Miami * two games scheduled vs. each opponent
RANGO WALKS OFF A WINNER
Senior Gina Rango ended her home career in grand fashion, with walk-off hits in both of the Falcons' wins over Toledo last weekend ... she had a seventh-inning single to score Jeanine Baca in Saturday's (April 29) 3-2 win ... then, she homered to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday (April 30), giving the Falcons a 6-5 win on 'Senior Day' at the BGSU Softball Field.
RANGO NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior Gina Rango was named the MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday (May 1) ... Rango earned the honor for the second time this season and the fourth time in her Falcon career ... she hit .583 last week, and batted .750 in BGSU's two MAC games ... she was 6-for-8 in the Falcons' weekend sweep of Toledo, with four runs, three homers, five RBI and a slugging pct. of 1.875 ... Rango had the walk-off hit in each of the wins over the Rockets.
LEADING OFF
GAMETRACKER
Falcon fans who are unable to travel to Kalamazoo and/or DeKalb this weekend can follow all of the action on the web at BGSUFalcons.com ... all four of this weekend's games will feature live statistics on the web via GameTracker, free of charge, at BGSU's official athletics web site.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons enter the week with a record of 32-20 on the season ... BGSU has a MAC record of 13-5, and the Falcons are a half-game ahead of Kent State and a game up on Akron in league's East Division ... the Falcons went 2-2 last week, winning the most important games of the week ... BG lost a pair of midweek road games against DePaul, a 2005 Women's College World Series participant, but picked up a pair of walk-off wins over arch-rival Toledo at the BGSU Softball Field ... BG participated in four tournaments this spring, winning two of them -- the USF Speedline Invitational in Tampa (March 17-19) and the Panera Bread Challenge in Chattanooga, Tenn. (Feb. 24-26), going a perfect 6-0 in the latter ... the Falcons went 1-5 at the Compass Bank Invitational in Waco, Texas, a tourney that pitted BGSU against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the national polls in all six games ... the win in that tourney came vs. #13/15 Washington ... the next weekend (March 10-12), BG went 3-2 at the Worth Classic, hosted by Florida Atlantic ... BGSU is hitting .264 as a team, while allowing opponents to hit just .204 ... senior Gina Rango, the 2005 MAC Player of the Year, is hitting .392 this season to date ... Rango has a slugging percentage of .672, and has a school-record 10 homeruns along with 32 runs batted in ... she leads the Falcons in nine offensive categories ... freshman Hayley Wiemer is batting .318, while classmate Desiree Miller has a .288 average, three homers and 23 RBI ... sophomore Allison Vallas and senior Abby Habicht are hitting .287 and .279, respectively ... Wiemer leads the Falcons with 21 walks, while Vallas and Habicht have 17 apiece and junior Jeanine Baca 16 ... junior Ashley Zirkle is batting .268 with four homers, while Baca is hitting .262 with 26 runs scored ... she paces the Falcons with 12 stolen bases ... Rango and soph Dawnjene DeLong each have scored 27 runs on the year ... in the circle, senior Liz Vrabel, the reigning MAC Pitcher of the Year, has a 16-10 record and an earned-run average of 1.55 ... she leads the Falcons in wins and ERA, and also has a team-high total of 176 strikeouts ... Wiemer is 8-9 with a 1.59 ERA and a team-high four saves, while sophomore Emily Gouge has a record of 8-1 and a 2.13 ERA ... Vrabel has allowed opponents to hit just .184 against her ... head coach Leigh Ross has 13 letterwinners, including a total of seven positional starters, back from last year's team that went 29-30 and finished with a Mid-American Conference mark of 12-10.
NOTING THE OPPONENTS
Western Michigan has a record of 28-12 on the season, and the Broncos are 15-3 in MAC play ... WMU leads the West Division by four games, and needs just one win in the last four games to clinch the divisional title ... Western has won five consecutive games and 13 of the last 15 contests, including a pair of shutout wins at then East Division-leading Akron last weekend ... the Broncos are 12-6 at home this season to date, including a record of 8-2 against MAC teams at Ebert Field ... individually, juniors Amanda Heckaman and Kristin Strange have identical batting averages of .319 to lead the Broncos ... sophomore Krysten Shumaker has a 15-4 record in the circle, with a total of 178 strikeouts and an ERA of just 0.91 ... a year ago, the Broncos of head coach Kathy Lietke had a 22-27 overall record and a 14-9 MAC ledger ... Lietke is in her sixth season with the Broncos ... web: www.wmubroncos.com.
Northern Illinois is 20-24 overall, and the Huskies have a MAC record of 8-10 ... NIU is battling for a MAC Tournament berth, and would be the seventh seed if the regular season ended today ... Northern will host Toledo in a Friday doubleheader before meeting the Falcons Saturday and Sunday ... over the weekend, the Huskies lost a pair of road games to Akron, but rebounded with two shutout wins at Ohio ... Northern lost a non-conference home game to Illinois State Tuesday night (May 2), 7-0 ... entering that game, junior Ellen Stoddard led a balanced NIU attack with a .292 batting average ... senior Lindsey LaChiana paces the NIU pitchers with a record of 11-7 and a 2.63 ERA ... Northern is 7-4 in home games in 2006, entering the Toledo DH ... a year ago, the Huskies finished 24-25 overall and 9-11 in MAC action ... head coach Donna Martin is in her 12th season at the Huskie helm ... web: www.niuhuskies.com.
THE SERIES
BGSU trails Western Michigan, 37-23, in the all-time series between the teams ... last year, the Broncos took two of the three meetings, including a sweep of the teams' doubleheader at Ebert Field (3-2 and 3-1; April 20, 2005) ... the Falcons' win, however, came in an elimination game in the MAC Tournament, as Liz Vrabel threw a one-hit shutout in a 4-0 victory in Akron (May 13, 2005) ... the Falcons, though, are 12-22 all-time in road games vs. the Broncos, and have lost four consecutive games at Ebert Field ... BG's last road win vs. Western came on April 10, 1998, as the teams split a DH.
BGSU holds a 14-11 lead over Northern Illinois in that series, and the Falcons won two of three meetings in DeKalb last year ... the teams split a Saturday doubleheader (April 2, 2005), with BG handing Northern a 2-1 defeat and the Huskies rallying for a 4-3 win, before the Falcons captured the series with a 4-3 triumph the following day ... BG has a slim 9-8 lead in the series since NIU rejoined the MAC for the 1997-98 academic year ... the Huskies hold a 6-5 lead in games played in DeKalb.
RANGO'S RAMPAGE THROUGH RECORD BOOKS
Senior Gina Rango already owns numerous BGSU career records, and continues to add to that list ... Rango, the 2005 MAC Player of the Year, is the school's all-time leader in games played (221), games started (221), at-bats (686), hits (256), RBI (132), doubles (49), homeruns (26) and total bases (397), and she currently ranks first in career batting average (.373) and slugging percentage (.579) ... Rango is near the top of several other BGSU career records lists as well ... of the 16 positive offensive career categories kept in the BGSU recordbooks, Rango is ranked on no fewer than 14 of them (all except sacrifice flies and sac bunts) ... the lists ...
CATEGORY RANGO'S TOTAL CURRENT RECORD/SECOND PLACE... Batting Avg. .373, FIRST (2nd - .364, Amy Lienhardt [1985-88]) Games Played 221, FIRST (2nd - 211, Missy Clay, Angie Domschot) Games Started 221, FIRST (2nd - 200, Colleen Bates [1997-2000]) At-Bats 686, FIRST (2nd - 642, Lienhardt) Hits 256, FIRST (2nd - 234, Lienhardt) RBI 132, FIRST (2nd - 91, Dena Romstadt [1990-93]) Doubles 49, FIRST (2nd - 47, Romstadt) Homeruns 26, FIRST (2nd - 14, Lynsey Ebel [1998-2001]) Total Bases 397, FIRST (2nd - 313, Lienhardt) Slugging Pct. .579, FIRST (2nd - .546, Jen Domschot [1999-2001]) Runs 114, second 152, Lienhardt Walks 59, fourth 65, Lienhardt Stolen Bases 28, eighth 121, Lienhardt Triples 7, Tie-12th 19, Angie Domschot (1998-2001)
VRABEL LEAVING HER MARK, TOO
Gina Rango is not the only Falcon senior that won a major MAC award last spring, and she is not the lone player to be at or near the top of numerous career lists ... Liz Vrabel, the 2005 MAC Pitcher of the Year, is the BGSU career leader in victories (65), strikeouts (751), strikeouts per seven innings (7.16) and shutouts (27) ... last week, she also took over the school record for appearances (137) ... Vrabel ranks among the top-three in a total of nine categories, and is seventh on one additional pitching chart ... those lists ...
CATEGORY VRABEL'S TOTAL CURRENT RECORD/SECOND PLACE... Wins 65, FIRST (2nd - 56, Jennifer Wolf [1993-97]) Strikeouts 751, FIRST (2nd - 505, Wolf) K's/7 inn. 7.16, FIRST (2nd - 4.96, Garrett Gholston [1996-99]) Shutouts * 27, FIRST (2nd - 24, Wolf) Appearances 137, FIRST (2nd - 136, Wolf) Complete Gms. 74, second 88, Wolf ERA 1.48, third 0.93, Vicki Miwa (1986-88) Innings 734.0, third 772 1/3, Wolf Games Started 97, third 108, Wolf Winning Pct. .560, seventh .679, Andrea Genter (1999-2002) * includes combined shutouts
WALK-OFF MAGIC AT THE BGSU SOFTBALL FIELD
The Falcons ended the home portion of the schedule with four consecutive walk-off wins ... senior Gina Rango provided the dramatics in each of last weekend's wins over Toledo ... Rango singled to leftfield to score junior Jeanine Baca in the seventh inning of Saturday's (April 29) 3-2 win, then led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a homerun for a 6-5 victory Sunday (April 30) ... the previous weekend, sophomore Allison Vallas and senior Lindsay Heimrich each had had singles up the middle to cap extra-inning wins over Eastern Michigan ... BG had a total of five home walk-off wins in the month of April, as Vallas drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Falcons a win over Ohio (April 9).
FALCON WIN TOTAL AT 32
The two wins last weekend give BGSU a total of 32 this season ... the Falcons have won at least 30 games for the fourth time in the eight-year Leigh Ross head-coaching tenure, and the seventh time in school history ... additionally, BGSU has surpassed the win total for all of last season (29-30) ... the school record for wins in a season is 37, recorded in 1992.
MORE RECORDS FOR RANGO
Senior Gina Rango could not have ended her home career on a more successful note ... Rango went 4-for-4 in the Falcons' "Senior Day" victory over arch-rival Toledo on Sunday afternoon (April 30) ... she had two homers among her four hits, tying the school record for round-trippers in a game ... the second homer, a walk-off blast to lead off the eighth inning, was her 10th of the season, breaking her own school record ... that homer was her 26th as a Falcon, 12 more than the second-place person on that school career chart ... the BGSU single-season and career records lists can be found in the pdf version of this release.
MULTIPLE-HOMER GAMES
Gina Rango had two homers, as mentioned, in Sunday's win over Toledo ... she is the lone Falcon to have more than one career multi-HR game, owning three of the six such games in BGSU history.
BGSU RECORD BOOK: TWO-HOMER GAMES
A LITTLE MORE INFO ABOUT Gina Rango
As mentioned earlier, Gina Rango has 10 homeruns this season, breaking her own school record ... she had nine during her sophomore season of 2004 ... no other player in school history has had more than six round-trippers in a season.
STELLAR SENIORS
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
BGSU PICKED TO WIN EAST DIVISION
Bowling Green was picked to win the MAC's East Division in 2006 ... the poll is a result of voting by the league's 12 head coaches ... Central Michigan was the coaches' choice to win the West Division and the MAC Tournament.
FALCONS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
The latest NCAA stats were released Tuesday (May 2) ... through games of Sunday, April 30, the Falcons were ranked 23rd in the nation in earned-run average, at 1.72 ... individually, freshman Hayley Wiemer was tied for sixth in the nation in saves, with four.
HEAD COACH Leigh Ross
Leigh Ross, the winningest coach in school history, is in her eighth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons ... she currently has an overall record of 232-195-2 (.543) ... Ross is also the school's leader in MAC games, with a league mark of 111-71 (.610) ... she ranks first in BG history in conference winning percentage, and is second in overall win pct., trailing only Sandy Haines (.557; 57-45-3).
Ross, the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, guided the Brown and Orange to a MAC East Division title that spring after a co-championship in 2000 ... she was the fastest coach in BG annals to 100 overall wins as well as 50 MAC victories ... Ross is the only head coach in school history with more than two 30-win seasons (she now has four), and continues to set new school marks with each win.
Ross assumed the top job after two years as BG's assistant coach ... the Ottawa Lake, Mich., native came to the Falcon program in August of 1996 after serving as a high-school head coach, at Notre Dame Academy in Toledo, for four seasons ... Ross, a 1992 graduate of the Univ. of Toledo, still holds numerous UT and MAC records, and remains the all-time league leader in batting average (.398), at-bats and hits ... she hit a MAC-record .447 as a senior en route to All-America Second-Team honors ... in 2001, she was inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame.
UP NEXT
The Falcons have qualified for the MAC Tournament ... the eight-team, double-elimination tournament begins Wednesday (May 10) at Currie Stadium in Midland, Mich. ... BGSU's first-day opponent and starting time will be determined after this weekend's regular-season action has been completed.
