Bowling Green State University Athletics
Baca, Hoffman, Ramsey and Zirkle End Era
May 03, 2007 | Softball
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May 3, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Captains Jeanine Baca and Ashley Zirkle, along with classmates Lauren Hoffman and Emmy Ramsey, will play their final game at the BGSU Softball Field on Sunday when the Falcons host Western Michigan for the final regular season match-up of 2007. Prior to the 1:00 p.m. contest on Sunday, the Falcons will host Northern Illinois in a pair of afternoon outings beginning at 1:00 p.m. and will challenge Western Michigan once on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
CURRENT FALCON EVENTS
Mother Nature had her way once again and the Falcons' trip to a ranked opponent was forced to be cancelled when BGSU was unable to travel to Ann Arbor to face the then No. 9 Michigan Wolverines (Apr. 25) ... the Falcons fell into a similar trap when attempting to travel to Rocky Top to play then No. 1 Tennessee (Apr. 11) ... the Falcons used the unexpected rest to their advantage and took a pair from the University of Toledo on Saturday and Sunday ... Saturday produced a 3-0 shutout over the Rockets after taking the early lead on the rivals ... Sunday the Falcons needed a late sixth and seventh inning surge to overcome the Rockets for the 5-1 win.
FOLLOWING THE FALCONS
The weekend's games can be followed LIVE via GAMETRACKER by accessing the softball schedule and results page via www.BGSUFALCONS.com ... due to the end of the academic school year, live radio broadcasts have yet to be confirmed for 88.1 FM or the BGSRO website (www.BGRSO.org).
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES CLASS OF 2007!
Sunday (May 6) the Orange and Brown will honor four seniors for their work as Bowling Green student-athletes over the span of their softball career ... a recognition ceremony spotlighting the quartet will be held prior to the 1:00 p.m. first pitch against the Broncos.
BACA, GOUGE AND WIEMER RANKED NATIONALLY
Three Falcons are currently ranked statistically among their peers nationally as of Apr. 29
... senior centerfielder Jeanine Baca remains ranked among the top ten batters in the nation as the toughest to strike out (.033 - 7) ... in 120 at bats she has been struck out four times and is the only MAC player to be ranked nationally ... she is also ranked in the top 100 batters with her .29 doubles per game (.29 - 61) and slides in at 50th overall in runs/game (.92 - 50) ... junior pitcher Emily Gouge is also seeing success nationally as her 1.72 ERA is good enough for a top 100 ranking (1.72 - 81) ... she is also ranked nationally for her SO/7 In. (7.7 - 68) and saves (2.0 - 67) ... sophomore Hayley Wiemer leads the Falcons' charge on the national scene appearing in seven individual categories ... from the plate Wiemer is named among the top players in batting average (.425 - 27), home runs/game ( .24 - 76), RBIs/game (.89 - 62), walks (.764 - 29) and slugging percentage (.764 - 29) ... in the circle, she is listed in the top 100 for her ERA (1.43 - 36) and saves (2.0 - 92).
FALCONS RANKED NATIONALLY
According to the Softball National Ranking Summary the BGSU softball squad has the 13th best ERA (1.59 - 13) and the 17th best WL percentage (.757 - 17) ... BGSU has also earned a top 50 slot in the homeruns/game category (.92 - 41) ... the Falcons are also among the top 100 in fielding (.962 - 92), scoring (4.73 - 68), doubles/game (1.3 - 58) and slugging percentage (.437 - 69).
FALCONS SET HR RECORD WITH 34 AND COUNTING...
After tying and breaking the 2006 homerun record (29), the Falcons have continued to increase their historic numbers and currently have 34 on the season ... sophomore Hayley Wiemer, who hit both the tying and record breaking boomers, leads the charge with nine this season ... she is one HR removed from tying Gina Rango's mark (10) set in 2006 ... junior Allison Vallas is also nipping at Rango's heels with eight of her own this season ... freshman Susan Sontag's long ball against Toledo boosted her celebrity status as she became the only BGSU freshman to hit more than five as a first-year Falcon ... Sontag has six on the season - good enough for the third best on the team ... current Falcons with at least one long ball include: Hayley Wiemer (9), Allison Vallas (8), Susan Sontag (6), Dawnjene DeLong (4), Jeanine Baca (3), Carly Riepenhoff (2) and 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 had not gone more than three games without hitting a homerun (Apr. 6-13) until hitting a four game drought on the road against Eastern and Central Michigan (Apr. 20-22) ... during the Feb. 24-Mar.4 timeframe BGSU went nine straight games hitting at least one homerun ... this is the first Falcon team to hit more than 30 in a season.
BGSU AND FELLOW MAC SCHOOLS
The Falcons continue their dominance of the MAC statistical board and currently sit in the top third of seven team batting categories ... BGSU holds the top slot in runs scored/game (4.73), homeruns/game (.92), RBIs/game (4.24) and walks/game (3.08) ... statistically the pitching staff is just as dangerous as the batting line-up and is ranked in the top two of nine categories and is leading the MAC in five ... BGSU has allowed the least homeruns, run, earned runs and walks while throwing the most innings ... the Falcons are also second in strikeouts, doubles and triples per game ... on the defensive end, BGSU has the third best fielding percentage.
FALCON PITCHING STAFF
Opposing batters have come to fear Emily Gouge and Hayley Wiemer from the circle ... both rank in the top five of for individual pitching ... Gouge ranks fourth throwing 120 K's in 109.2 IP ... BGSU is the only school to have both starting pitchers in the top five.
FALCONS AT THE PLATE
Hayley Wiemer ranks among the top of the MAC in several categories and is the only player to bat above a .400 overall ... Jeanine Baca and Allison Vallas also sit in the top ten in overall bating average ... BGSU is the only school to boast three players in the top ten ... Baca, Wiemer and Vallas also have found themselves in four various categories.
INSIDE THE BATTERS BOX
Northern Illinois (5/4 DH, 1:00 p.m.)
The 20-23 NIU Huskies will test their 9-9 MAC record against the Falcons on Friday afternoon ... currently only four players have seen action in all 43 games this season ... Krista McPherson leads the Huskies in several batting areas including BA (.353), at bats (139), hits (49) and runs (28) ... McPherson has a tendency to find base hits but seldom finds herself past the initial bag ... she has eight doubles on the season and has yet to hit a triple or homerun in her 49 connections ... Ellen Stoddard and Randi Kreiter can also be seen as an offensive threats as the two have combined for 33 runs on 72 hits including 19 doubles and five homeruns ... more than likely the Falcons will face Kate Greenough (3.15 ERA) who has appeared in 31 games this season ... she has one shutout on the year and two saves ... Greenough carries an 81-23 strikeout to walk ratio ... Taryn Hagemann (4.44 ERA) has served as the secondary pitcher and has seen action in 24 games ... the duo have allowed 147 runs - 119 of which were earned ... NIU is 0-13 when scoring one or less runs ... the Huskies have lost just two games due to rallies in the fourth (17-2) or fifth (15-2) inning ... the Falcons narrowly have edged the Huskies 15-12 throughout the series with the last Husky win as a 4-3 decision on May 2, 2006 ... the predicted forecast in Bowling Green is mostly sunny with a high of 70 and a 10% chance of precipitation.
Western Michigan (5/5, 1:00 p.m., 5/6, 2:00 p.m.)
Despite batting .193 as a team, four of Western Michigan's starters are posting RBI's in the double digits and are scoring double digit runs of their own ... the Bronco's are 18-19 on the season, but have winning records in the MAC (10-8) and on the road (9-7) ... Becky Bartosz is batting a team high .275 with 11 runs on 25 hits ... three other Bronco's are complementing Bartosz effort in the offensive set and can wreak havoc on the scoreboard at any time ... Brittney Reist leads the WMU defense and in 26 appearances has posted five shutouts - by far the most an opposing pitcher has thrown prior to meeting the Falcons ... all-time, Western Michigan holds a 39-24 advantage over the Falcons ... last season the Falcons were 1-2 against the Broncos in the month of May... the predicted forecast in Bowling Green for Saturday is showers with a high of 66 and a 40% chance of precipitation ... Sunday calls for partly cloudy weather with a high of 68 and a 10% chance of precipitation.
2007 MAC SOFTBALL STANDINGS
West Division
Eastern Michigan (9-5, 19-20)
Central Michigan (8-6, 21-18)
Western Michigan (10-8, 18-19)
Northern Illinois (9-9, 20-23)
Ball State (6-12, 20-32)
Toledo (3-13, 8-30)
East Division
Kent State (12-2, 27-16)
Bowling Green (11-5, 28-9)
Miami OH (11-7, 23-32-1)
Akron (7-7, 17-21)
Ohio (9-9, 22-26)
Buffalo (1-13, 3-41)
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.
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 ... Allison Vallas earned Player of the Week in the same week.
