Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Visit Eastern and Central Michigan
April 19, 2007 | Softball
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
April 19, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Bowling Green will continue their four game tour of Michigan sites and will travel to Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan Friday-Sunday. The Falcons bookend the MAC trip with a pair of non-conference opponents including two wins over Detroit on Tuesday and will see single game action with No. 9 Michigan on Wednesday.
The Falcons are 3-0 in the state of Michigan this year with their 11-1 run rule win at Michigan State and their recent wins over Detroit. Bowling Green has won in run rule decisions twice when traveling north of the Ohio border.
CURRENT FALCON EVENTS
The Bowling Green (25-6) softball Falcons need both hands to count their current win streak after sweeping the Titans of the University of Detroit Mercy (9-20) at Detroit's Buysee Ballpark ... karma played a bit of a trick on the Orange and Brown as BGSU needed nine innings to win the second game, 5-3, after run ruling the Titians in the first, 10-2 ... captains Hayley Wiemer and Ashley Zirkle earned Falcon long balls No. 30 and 31 as BGSU began their own re-write of the BGSU record books surpassing the single season homerun record of 29 set last season ... freshman Susan Sontag added the 32nd in the second game ... the Falcons are 1-1 in extra innings to date and are 12-0 when scoring five or more runs ... with the sweep over Detroit, St. Bonaventure becomes the only squad to split a series with BGSU ... the split with the Bonnies happened Mar. 7 in Charleston, S.C.
FOLLOWING THE FALCONS
Live stats via GAMETRACKER will not be available this weekend ... fans can follow the Falcons on Friday by clicking HERE for live stats powered by SIDEARM ... for games at Central, fans can listen LIVE to Saturday and Sunday's call.
WIEMER AND VALLAS SWEEP MAC POW
Sophomore Hayley Wiemer and junior Allison Vallas were recognized by the Mid-American Conference office for their outstanding play in their four game sweep over Miami and Ball State ... Wiemer was named MAC East Pitcher of the Week while Vallas earned Player of the Week honors ... the last time the Falcons were handed a sweep of the Eastern division's top weekly distinction was April 17, 2006 as current senior Ashley Zirkle and then starting pitcher Liz Vrabel were named the top Eastern performers.
BACA, WIEMER AND VALLAS RANKED NATIONALLY
Three Falcons are currently ranked statistically among their peers nationally as of Apr. 15 ... Jeanine Baca is ranked among the top ten in toughest to strike out (.32 - 8) and is ranked 23rd in runs/game (1.03 - 23) ... Hayley Wiemer ranked for her .435 BA (.435 - 50) and in slugging (.765 - 38) ... Allison Vallas ranks in RBI (1.03 - 24) and slugging (.765. - 38).
FALCONS RANKED NATIONALLY
The play of BGSU thus far has launched them into the national scene and are currently ranked statistically in the top 50 in several categories as of Apr. 15 ... with the 23-6 record, BGSU is ranked 13th with their win-loss percentage of .793 (.793-13) ... the team tied for 31st with their HR/game ratio of 1.00 (1.00 - t-31) ... BGSU's team slugging has reached the .462 mark (.462 - 43) ... defensively, the Falcons have racked up a team ERA of 1.74 and are among the top 25 teams (1.74 -25).
ZIRKLE HITS ONE OF FIVE GRAND SLAMS SINCE 1999
April 17, 2007 Ashley Zirkle vs. Detroit
April 23, 2003 Crystal Wilson vs. Toledo
April 19, 2003 Crystal Wilson vs. Akron - game 2
March 30, 2001 Renee Rosemeier vs. Marshall
February 16, 2001 Renee Rosemeier vs. Pacific
April 27, 1999 Angie Domschot vs. Miami - game 2
FALCONS SET HR RECORD WITH 32 AND COUNTING...
Hayley Wiemer smashed both the tying (29) and record breaking (30) homeruns this season ... Ashley Zirkle and Susan Sontag booted No. 31 and 32 ... Zirkle's HR was her second of the season and her first collegiate grand slam ... Sontag joins teammate Jeanine Baca as one of three BGSU freshmen to smack five HRs in their first season with the program ... Wiemer's HR was her eighth of the year and currently sits in a tie for third all-time in the single season homerun count with teammate Allison Vallas ... current Falcons with at least one long ball include: Hayley Wiemer (8), Allison Vallas (8), Dawnjene DeLong (4), Jeanine Baca (3), Susan Sontag (5), Carly Riepenhoff (2), Ashley Zirkle (2) ... last season, the 2006 Falcons broke the single season HR record on May 7 against Northern Illinois with two against the Huskies and an additional three on May 12 at the MAC Tournament ... this season the Falcons broke the record an amazing 26 games prior to last year's mark with the '07 Falcons saying hello to the record in their 31st contest of the season where as the '06 Falcons did it in their 56th ... Bowling Green has not gone more than three games without hitting a homerun (Apr. 6-13) ... during the Feb. 24-Mar.4 timeframe BGSU went nine straight games hitting at least one homerun ... currently, the Falcons have hit a homerun in the past five games ... this is the first Falcon team to hit more than 30 in a season.
SALSBURG FIRST BGSU HEAD COACH IN OPENING SEASON TO ...
With less than a full season under her belt, first time head coach Shannon Salsburg is the first BGSU head coach to post a winning record at the conclusion of her first opening weekend at the helm of the program ... Salsburg's Falcons went 4-1 at the Panera Bread Challenge ... they also won two of three spring tournaments ... she is the only first-year head coach to win more than 25 games ... her team is also the only team to hit more than 30 HRs in a single season.
FALCONS TO PLAY NO. 9 MICHIGAN
The Bowling Green softball program (25-6) have announced they will take on No. 9 Michigan in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 ... the single game is scheduled to have the first pitch thrown at 5:00 p.m. ... the Wolverines currently hold a 33-8 overall record with one of the eight losses coming at the hands of Mid-American Conference member Central Michigan on April 17 ... Michigan went on to split the two game series with the Chippewa's in Mount Pleasant, Mich. ... the bout with the Wolverines will replace the postponed outing at Rocky Top that was originally scheduled for April 11, 2007 ... expected rain forced the Falcons to postpone their trip to No. 1 Tennessee
MOST RECENT CONTESTS WITH RANKED OPPONENTS
• 13/15 Washington (Mar. 3, 2006 - Waco, Texas) L 4-3
• 18/20 Baylor (Mar. 3, 2006 - Waco, Texas) L 3-1
• RV/RV Mississippi State (Mar. 4, 2006 - Waco, Texas) L 3-2 (8)
• 18/20 Baylor (Mar. 4, 2006 - Waco, Texas) L 3-2
• 13/15 Washington (Mar. 5, 2006 - Waco, Texas) W 3-1
• RV/RV Mississippi State (Mar. 5, 2006 - Waco, Texas) L 6-1
• 12/12 Univ. of Michigan (Mar. 28, 2006 - Ann Arbor, Mich) L 3-0
• 1/1 Univ. of Tennessee (April 11, 2006 - Knoxville, Tenn.) Cancelled
INSIDE THE BATTERS BOX
Eastern Michigan (4/20, 1:00 p.m. DH)
The Eagles are currently 14-16 on the season and 4-2 in MAC play ... after dropping their first 11-of-12 contests, the Eagles are 13-5 ... EMU is also 3-1 at home ... the Eagles have narrowly out-scored their opponents 123-121 ... of their 123 runs, 113 have been accounted for with an RBI ... Ashley Strauss leads EMU with a .356 BA and has started all 30 games ... Jenny Scherer leads the Eagles with 22 RBI's on 27 hits ... six Eagles are over .300 BA to date ... Amiee Woodrum has made 20 appearances this season and boasts a 3.22 ERA in 87 IP ... she has a 68-10 SO-BB ratio ... EMU has been out score in the first three innings 73-29 but have out scored their opponents in the fourth-final innings 94-48.
Central Michigan (4/21, 2:00 p.m., 4/22, 1:00 p.m)
The Chippewa's are currently 14-16 overall and 2-4 in MAC play ... the Chip's are 3-2 since Apr. 11 including a win over No. 9 Michigan on Apr. 17 ... in 102 AB, Tracy Kaatz has posted a .382 BA and has scored a team-high 19 runs ... Jacque Benedict leads Central with 16 RBI's ... from the rubber, Ali Pettit has a 10-6 record and has thrown one shut-out ... in 98.1 IP she has tossed 81 SO's to her 32 BB's ... opponents have out scored the Chip's 125-11 and have out hit the Chip's 212-195.
MAC STANDINGS THROUGH APRIL 18, 2007
West Division
Eastern Michigan (4-2, 14-16)
Western Michigan (5-5, 13-16)
Ball State (6-6, 15-26)
Northern Illinois (5-5, 16-19)
Toledo (2-8, 7-25)
Central Michigan (2-4, 14-16)
East Division
Kent State (7-1, 21-14)
Bowling Green (8-2, 25-6)
Ohio (7-5, 18-22)
Akron (5-5, 13-18)
Miami OH (6-6, 18-31-1)
Buffalo (1-7, 3-33)
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE FALCONS
The 2007 Softball Falcons are making a name for themselves after finding success in each of their three pre-conference season tournaments ... the Falcons, as a team and with respect to their own individual talent, are a topic of discussion in the print media ... visit the link from the "Falcon Notes" sidebar to discover the praise those outside of the program are giving head coach Shannon Salsburg and the BGSU softball student-athletes ... this page, provided free of charge by the BGSU athletic communications office, contains as many links as possible to articles relating to the 2006-07 women's softball Falcons ... these links and PDF's are provided as a service to out-of-market media that need information on a team they do not cover on a daily basis, as well as to media members and fans who are already quite familiar with the team ... as often as possible, this page will be updated with the latest breaking news and feature stories.
FILLIN' THE TROPHY CASE
In three spring tournaments, the Falcons appeared in three championship games and brought home two tournament crowns ... BGSU won both the Panera Bread Challenge and the Charleston Southern Tournaments while taking second in the USF Speedline tournament ... while on the road, Hayley Wiemer was named CSU tournament MVP ... Wiemer was also named both MAC East Player of the Week and Scholar-Athlete of the Week for the week of Mar. 9 following her performance in Charleston ... she garnished the honor again on April 5, 2007 and April 16, 2007... Emily Gouge and Susan Sontag were also named to the CSU All-Tournament team ... Gouge also picked up honors as the Most Valuable Pitcher at the USF tournament ... she was named the MAC East Pitcher of the Week four days later
