Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Tie School Record For Wins
June 28, 2006 | Softball
June 28, 2006
Complete Release, Statistics and Updated Single-Season & Career Records (21 total pages) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University softball team, after earning a Mid-American Conference Tournament berth for the eighth time in the last nine years, went 2-2 in the league tourney to end the season ... the Falcons of eighth-year head coach Leigh Ross finished with an overall record of 37-23, tying the school record for victories in a season ... the Brown and Orange went 16-6 in MAC play, finishing in second place in the MAC's East Division, just a half-game out of first.
FALCONS GO 2-2 IN LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
The Falcons went 2-2 at the MAC Tournament in Midland, Mich. ... BGSU posted shutout wins over Akron and Ohio, but lost one-run games to Kent State and Western Michigan in the eight-team, double-elimination tourney ... KSU and WMU went on to meet in the championship, with the Golden Flashes earning the victory and the MAC Tournament title ... senior Liz Vrabel threw a pair of complete-game shutouts in her two tournament appearances, earning a spot on the league's all-tourney team ... the complete listing of MAC Tournament results ...
Currie Stadium; Midland, Mich.
Wednesday, May 10 Game 1 - #3 Bowling Green 4, #6 Akron 0 Game 2 - #2 Kent State 2, #7 Northern Illinois 1Thursday, May 11 Game 3 - #5 Eastern Michigan 6, #4 Central Michigan 0 Game 4 - #1 Western Michigan 1, #8 Ohio 0 (8 inn.) Game 5 - Northern Illinois 3, Akron 2 *& Game 6 - Ohio 4, Central Michigan 1 *& Game 7 - Kent State 3, Bowling Green 2 Game 8 - Western Michigan 5, Eastern Michigan 2
Friday, May 12 Game 9 - Bowling Green 3, Ohio 0 * Game 10 - Eastern Michigan 8, Northern Illinois 5 * Game 11 - Western Michigan 2, Bowling Green 1 * Game 12 - Kent State 2, Eastern Michigan 0 *
Saturday, May 13 Game 13 - Championship - Kent St. 2, Western Mich. 1 *
* losing team eliminated & game played at auxiliary field
THANKS, SENIORS
The Falcons' MAC Tournament run marked the final collegiate action for BGSU's stellar senior class ... that group of fourth-year Falcons included Natalie Armintrout, Abby Habicht, Lindsay Heimrich, Gina Rango and Liz Vrabel ... the senior class guided BGSU to a total of 126 wins during their tenures, the most victories in a four-year span in school history ... more information on the Falcon seniors can be found later in this release.
BGSU IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
The Falcons appeared in the MAC Tournament for the fourth consecutive season, the eighth time in the last nine years, and the 11th time in school history ... the 2006 campaign marked the 16th MAC Tournament ... a league tourney was held each year from 1982-86 before a hiatus of nearly a decade (the tournament resumed in 1996, but that year's tourney was suspended in the third game due to inclement weather) ... Bowling Green has compiled an all-time tourney mark of 18-21, including a 5-1 record and the school's first MAC Tournament championship in 2004 ... in 2005, the Falcons were 2-2 in the first season of the eight-team format, and the Brown and Orange again split four games in the '06 tourney ... BGSU has gone 1-2 on six of the 11 occasions the Falcons have qualified ... BG was 1-2 in the first four trips, 0-2 in 1999 and 3-2 (with a runner-up finish) in 2000 ... the Falcons posted a 1-2 mark at the 2001 tourney, and again won one of three games in 2003 ... BG participated in the league tourney in 1982, 1985 and 1986, prior to the four-year run from 1998-2001 ... the Falcons just missed making the tourney in '02, but now have qualified in each of the last four seasons ... a complete game-by-game listing, with opponent, result and score, can be found in the pdf version of this release.
RANGO REPEATS AS AN ALL-AMERICAN
Falcon senior Gina Rango was selected to the 2006 Easton-Bell All-America team, it was announced in early June ... Rango was chosen to the third team for the second consecutive year ... she becomes the first-ever Falcon softball standout to earn multiple All-American honors, and has garnered two of the three such accolades in program history ... Amy Lienhardt earned second-team honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association in 1988, prior to Rango's third-team honor from Easton in 2005 ... a total of 45 student-athletes, representing 24 schools, were named to the 2006 Easton-Bell All-America Team ... Rango was the lone MAC player chosen to the squad.
FALCONS HAVE FIVE ALL-MAC SELECTIONS
A total of five BGSU standouts were named to the 2006 All-MAC Team ... seniors Abby Habicht and Gina Rango and freshman Hayley Wiemer were named to the all-conference first team, while senior Liz Vrabel and freshman Desiree Miller were chosen to the second team ... Rango, a third baseman, was named to the first team for the fourth time in as many years at BGSU ... she becomes the first-ever Falcon to earn first-team honors on four occasions (Vicki Miwa [1986, 1987 and 1988] and Michelle Clagett [1987, 1988 and 1989] each had earned first-team honors three times) ... Vrabel also earned all-league honors for the fourth-straight year ... she was named to the first team in 2005 and the second team in each of her other three seasons ... Rango and Vrabel are the only two players in school history to earn all-league honors four times ... Habicht, Miller and Wiemer each earned all-conference accolades for the first time ... the Falcons' total of five all-league selections was BG's most since 2001, and the three first-team choices were the most since those '01 Falcons had four players chosen to the first team.
RANGO NAMED TO GREAT LAKES ALL-REGION FIRST TEAM, AGAIN
A yearly tradition continued in 2006 for senior Gina Rango, as she was named to the NFCA's All-Great Lakes Region First Team for the fourth consecutive year ... Rango, who in 2004 became the first player in school history to earn all-region honors on more than one occasion, is obviously the first-ever Falcon to be selected in all four seasons ... only Amy Lienhardt (1988) and Rachelle Highfill (1993) have been first-team selections ... Rango was one of just two MAC players to be named to the all-region first team in 2006, joining Eastern Michigan's Lauren Clark.
RANGO THE FIRST TO ACCOMPLISH THESE FEATS
Gina Rango is in a class by herself when it comes to earning all-league and all-region accolades ... a native of North Lima, Ohio (Boardman H.S.), Rango was a four-time All-Great Lakes Region selection, the first in school history ... only six times has a BGSU player been named to the all-region first team, and Rango has been that player, obviously, on four of those occasions ... she also was the first-ever Falcon to be named to the All-MAC First Team in all four seasons.
Gina Rango: BEST HITTER EVER?
A strong case can be made that Gina Rango was the best hitter in BGSU softball history ... Rango led the Falcons with a .366 batting average in 2006, and also paced the Brown and Orange in hits (67), doubles (14 - tied for team lead), home runs (a school-record 10), RBI (32), total bases (113), slugging percentage (.617) and on-base pct. (.423) ... Rango was second on the team in runs scored (30) in '06 ... in MAC games only, Rango hit a whopping .432 with five homers, 13 RBI and a slugging pct. of .730 ... she ends her career holding no fewer than 10 BGSU career records, including batting average, games played and started, at-bats, hits, doubles, homers, RBI, total bases and slugging pct.
VRABEL NAMED TO MAC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Senior Liz Vrabel was named to the MAC's All-Tournament Team in 2006 ... Vrabel, BGSU's lone selection to the squad, earned the honor for the second consecutive year ... she is the only player in school history to be named to the MAC All-Tournament Team on multiple occasions ... a native of Allison Park, Pa. (North Allegheny H.S.), Vrabel had a 2-0 record and a perfect 0.00 earned-run average in the 2006 league tourney ... she picked up both of BGSU's victories in the tourney, with complete-game shutouts of Akron (May 10) and Ohio (May 12).
VRABEL STEPS UP AT TOURNEY TIME
In 2006, Liz Vrabel continued a tradition of stepping up her game when tournament time rolled around ... Vrabel, as mentioned above, was 2-0 with a perfect 0.00 ERA in the '06 MAC Tournament ... in her career, she finished with a MAC Tournament record of 6-3, and an ERA of just 0.47 ... Vrabel allowed only four earned runs in 59 career innings in league tourney play ... over her last three seasons, Vrabel went 5-1 with a microscopic 0.18 ERA in MAC Tournament action, having allowed only one earned run in 40 innings during that span.
Liz Vrabel: BEST PITCHER EVER?
Just as the case can be made for Gina Rango as the best hitter in BGSU softball history, a similar case can be argued for Liz Vrabel as the top pitcher in Falcon annals ... in the 2006 season, Vrabel had an overall record of 18-10, a 1.49 ERA and a total of 193 strikeouts ... her strikeout total is the second highest in a season in BGSU history ... Vrabel set that record in 2005, with 237 strikeouts, and she owns four of the top-five K totals in school history ... Vrabel was named to the All-MAC Second Team in 2006, earning all-league honors for the fourth consecutive season ... Vrabel and Rango are the only two players in BGSU history to earn All-MAC honors four times.
Hayley Wiemer NAMED FRESHMAN OF YEAR
Hayley Wiemer was named the 2006 MAC Freshman of the Year ... Wiemer became the third Falcon ever to earn league freshman-of-the-year honors, and the first in over a decade (Tricia Askins in 1992, Jennifer Wolf in 1993) ... Desiree Miller joined Wiemer on the MAC's All-Freshman Team.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
RANGO'S RAMPAGE THROUGH THE RECORD BOOKS
Senior Gina Rango made the BGSU record book her own during her four-year Falcon career ... Rango, a four-time all-league and all-region first-team selection, leaves Northwest Ohio as the school's all-time leader in games played (229), games started (229), batting average (.367), at-bats (711), hits (261), RBI (132), doubles (51), home runs (26), total bases (404) and slugging percentage (.568) ... Rango finished near the top of several other BGSU career records lists as well, ranking second in walks and runs scored ... 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 SCHOOL RECORD/SECOND PLACE... Batting Avg. .367, FIRST (2nd - .364, Amy Lienhardt [1985-88]) Games Played 229, FIRST (2nd - 211, Missy Clay, Angie Domschot) Games Started 229, FIRST (2nd - 200, Colleen Bates [1997-2000]) At-Bats 711, FIRST (2nd - 642, Lienhardt) Hits 261, FIRST (2nd - 234, Lienhardt) RBI 132, FIRST (2nd - 91, Dena Romstadt [1990-93]) Doubles 51, FIRST (2nd - 47, Romstadt) Home Runs 26, FIRST (2nd - 14, Lynsey Ebel [1998-2001]) Total Bases 404, FIRST (2nd - 313, Lienhardt) Slugging Pct. .568, FIRST (2nd - .546, Jen Domschot [1999-2001]) Runs 117, second 152, Lienhardt Walks 63, second 65, Lienhardt Stolen Bases 28, Tie-eighth 121, Lienhardt Triples 7, Tie-12th 19, Angie Domschot (1998-2001)
LIZ LEFT HER MARK, TOO
Gina Rango is not the only Falcon senior to finish her career at or near the top of numerous career lists ... Liz Vrabel ended her star-studded career in the Brown and Orange as the career leader in wins (67), strikeouts (768), strikeouts per seven innings (7.12), shutouts (29) and appearances (141) ... her win total broke the previous school mark by 11, and her strikeout total ranks her third in MAC history ... Vrabel finished among the top-three in a total of nine categories, and was seventh on one additional pitching chart ... those lists ...
CATEGORY VRABEL'S TOTAL SCHOOL RECORD/SECOND PLACE... Wins 67, FIRST (2nd - 56, Jennifer Wolf [1993-97]) Strikeouts 768, FIRST (2nd - 505, Wolf) K's/7 inn. 7.12, FIRST (2nd - 4.96, Garrett Gholston [1996-99]) Shutouts * 29, FIRST (2nd - 24, Wolf) Appearances 141, FIRST (2nd - 136, Wolf) Complete Gms. 76, second 88, Wolf Innings 754.2, second 772 1/3, Wolf ERA 1.47, third 0.93, Vicki Miwa (1986-88) Games Started 100, third 108, Wolf Winning Pct. .568, seventh .679, Andrea Genter (1999-2002) * includes combined shutouts
SENIOR PRIDE
Rango and Vrabel were joined by three other fourth-year players -- Natalie Armintrout, Abby Habicht and Lindsay Heimrich -- on the 2006 BGSU roster, and all have contributed to the team's success ... Armintrout hit her first collegiate homer in the Falcons' win at Northern Illinois on May 7, and was one of the top pinch-hitters on the team over the last two years ... Habicht, a four-year starter and a stellar defensive player for her entire career, became one of the team's top hitters in 2006 ... she batted .295 overall, and hit .369 with a slugging percentage of .585 and a .994 fielding pct. in MAC action ... Heimrich, who was slowed by injuries during much of the 2005 season, hit .333 in league games in '06, with a fielding pct. of .977 ... the senior class is just the second in BG history to qualify for the MAC Tournament in all four years ... addtionally, as mentioned earlier, the group led the Falcons to a total of 126 wins since arriving on campus, the most victories in a four-year period in school history.
HEIMRICH NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
Senior Lindsay Heimrich was named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV University Division Softball Team ... Heimrich was named to the second team ... the honor marked the third consecutive year that the Waterville, Ohio (Anthony Wayne H.S.) native was named to the team ... she was a second-team choice two-straight years after being named to the first team in 2004 ... to qualify, student-athletes must hold at least sophomore status (meaning that Heimrich has made the team in every year in which she has been eligible for consideration), be a starter or important reserve on the team, and carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher ... Heimrich, a marketing major, maintained a 3.70 cumulative GPA at the time of nomination.
HEIMRICH, VALLAS NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-MAC TEAM
Senior Lindsay Heimrich and sophomore Allison Vallas were named to the Academic All-MAC Team, it was announced in late May ... Heimrich was a repeat selection, while Vallas was a first-time choice to the team in her first year of eligibility ... the team is the result of voting by the league's faculty athletic representatives ... Heimrich had a 3.70 cumulative grade point average as a marketing major at the time of nomination, while Vallas had a perfect 4.00 cumulative GPA as an education major ... the Academic All-MAC honor is bestowed upon student-athletes who have excelled in athletics and academics ... to qualify for consideration, a student-athlete must have a 3.20 cumulative GPA and maintain at least sophomore status.
FALCON TIE SCHOOL RECORD WITH 37 WINS
The two wins in the MAC Tournament gave BGSU 37 victories in 2006, tying the school record ... the 1992 Falcons also posted 37 wins, while the 1988 and 2001 teams each won 35 games ... the 2006 Falcons 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.
VALLAS NAMED MAC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Allison Vallas was named the MAC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week on May 10 ... Vallas earned the honor after hitting .438 in the final week of the regular season ... she was 7-for-16 in those four games as the Falcons went 3-1 on the road, splitting with eventual MAC regular-season champion Western Michigan and sweeping Northern Illinois ... the league weekly academic honor was the first for Vallas in her Falcon career.
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 the wins over Toledo on April 29-30 ... Rango singled to leftfield to score junior Jeanine Baca in the seventh inning of the first game, a 3-2 win, then led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a home run -- her second homer of the game -- for a 6-5 victory the next day ... 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 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).
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE, DOUBLE YOUR FUN
The Falcons' total of seven doubles in the final regular-season game, a five-inning win at Northern Illinois (May 7), is believed to be a school record ... additionally, senior Abby Habicht and sophomores Dawnjene DeLong and Allison Vallas each had a pair of two-base hits in the win ... BG single-game records are rather sketchy, but it is believed that the NIU contest marked the first time three different players had two doubles apiece in the same game.
IF YOU CHANGE THE 'R' TO AN 'E,' 'GINA RANGO' IS AN ANAGRAM FOR 'GONE AGAIN'
Senior Gina Rango was no stranger to the long ball during her Falcon career ... Rango had 10 home runs in 2006, 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.
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
BGSU IN THE MAC RANKINGS
The Falcons led the league in several pitching categories in 2006, including ERA (1.68) and shutouts (16) ... BG hurlers paced the MAC in ERA for the second consecutive year ... the Falcons were second in the league in innings pitched (424.0) and strikeouts (378), tied for second in saves (5) and third in opponent batting average (.215) ... Falcon pitchers were second in fewest walks per seven innings (1.65), and BG was third in strikeouts per seven innings (6.24) ... at the plate, Falcon batters were third in the league with a team batting average of .259 ... BG led the MAC in hits (424), walks (156) and doubles (81), and tied for the league lead in on-base percentage (.333) ... the Falcons were second in the conference in at-bats (1638) and runs scored (207), tied for third in triples (6), deadlocked for fourth in stolen bases (46) and ranked fifth in home runs (29) ... BGSU was second in the league in fielding for the second consecutive year, with a .965 fielding percentage in 2006 after a school-record .966 mark in '05.
In league games only, BG batters led the league in hits (193), doubles (42) and at-bats (662), and were second in walks (67) ... the Falcons' .292 batting average ranked third in the loop, as did the team's on-base (.366) and slugging (.440) percentages ... BG pitchers were fifth in ERA (2.07) in MAC games, and the Falcons were first in innings pitched (166.0), second in fewest walks per seven innings (1.56) and tied for second in fewest walks allowed (37) ... BG was third in opponent BA (.233), strikeouts (148), strikeouts per seven innings (6.24) ... additionally, BGSU was third in the league in fielding percentage, with a .965 rate in MAC games.
HEAD COACH Leigh Ross
Leigh Ross, the winningest coach in school history, has completed her eighth season as a collegiate head coach, all with the Falcons ... she has an overall record of 237-198-2 (.545) ... Ross is also the school's leader in MAC games, with a league mark of 114-72 (.613) ... 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 ... 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.
Kyle Jamieson has wrapped up his third season as an assistant coach with the Falcons, while Susan Sargent was in her first year on Ross's coaching staff.
