Falcons Dig the Long Ball in 7-2 Win over Western

Saturday, May 5

Bowling Green, Ohio

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

WESTERN MICHIGAN

May 05, 2007 | Softball

May 5, 2007

Final Stats

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Sophomore Hayley Wiemer got a complete-game victory and tied the school homerun record as the Bowling Green State University softball team downed Western Michigan University, 7-2, Saturday afternoon (May 5). The Mid-American Conference game was held at the BGSU Softball Field.

With the win, the Falcons improve to 31-9 overall and 14-5 in the MAC. BGSU has clinched the third seed for next week's MAC Tournament in Midland, Mich. The Broncos drop to 19-21 and 11-10, respectively.

Wiemer, senior Jeanine Baca and freshman Susan Sontag each hit homers -- all in the game's first two innings -- as the Falcons increased their school-record total to 41 on the year. Wiemer's blast was her 10th of the year, tying the BG single-season record set by Gina Rango last spring.

Wiemer, despite allowing her first earned runs in two weeks (since April 21), scattered seven hits in her complete-game victory. She struck out seven and did not walk a batter in improving to 16-5 on the year.

The top-three hitters in the Falcon lineup combined for six of BG's nine hits, as Baca, senior Emmy Ramsey and Wiemer had two hits apiece. Baca and Ramsey each scored twice, while Wiemer drove in three runs on the day.

The Broncos took an early 1-0 lead, getting on the board quickly. Molly Mroczek led off the game with a single and, one out later, came around to score when a sinking liner off the bat of Kristi Strange went all the way to the wall in rightfield for a triple.

The Falcons avoided further damage in that inning as Amanda Heckaman's grounder was grabbed by BG third baseman Brittnay Hay, who saw Strange caught off third base. After a brief rundown, Hay tagged Strange for the second out of the inning. The next batter, Becky Bartosz, hit a roller toward third, and Hay charged in to field the grounder and fire to first baseman Allison Vallas for the third out.

For Wiemer, Western's first-inning run ended a string of 19 1/3 innings without allowing a run, earned or unearned. The stellar soph had not surrendered a run to the opposition since an April 21 game at Central Michigan.

The Falcons would answer right back in the bottom of the first. With one out, Ramsey reached on a single, and Wiemer followed with her 10th homer of the season, a blast to straightaway center. BG led, 2-1, after one inning.

Ramsey charged in to make a nifty diving catch in leftfield to end the top of the second inning, robbing WMU pitcher Kyla Sullivan of a hit.

Sontag led off the bottom of the second inning with a towering fly ball to right. The ball was hit so high that WMU rightfielder Mroczek had time to retreat all the way to the wall and make a leaping effort. However, despite a right-to-leftfield wind, Sontag's rainmaking hit cleared the wall, and the freshman had her eighth homer, and BGSU's 40th roundtripper, of the year.

Two outs later, Baca gave the Falcons a homer to each field, belting the first pitch of her at-bat over the leftfield wall. That made the Falcon homerun sum 41, and the BGSU lead 4-1.

Sullivan, who had entered the game having allowed just five homers in 165 2/3 innings this season, allowed three within the first five outs on Saturday.

The Broncos cut into the BG lead in the fourth frame, as Bartosz hit a blooper that dropped just inside the right-field line for a single, and Lauren Fuller's two-out double into the gap in right-center brought pinch-runner Nina Ojala all the way around to score.

Wiemer escaped further damage in the fourth, then retired the Broncos with relative ease in the top of the fifth before the Falcons added to the lead in the bottom of the inning.

BGSU's first five batters reached base safely in that inning, beginning with four-straight base hits. Baca waited on a 2-2 change-up from Sullivan, lining the pitch back up the middle and into centerfield. Ramsey beat out a bunt toward third base to put two runners aboard.

Then, Wiemer's hard single to right-center scored Baca easily, with Ramsey taking third on the play. Wiemer stole second base during Vallas' at-bat, and the BG junior culminated that at-bat by hitting Sullivan's 100th pitch of the day to left for a single, scoring Ramsey and sending Wiemer to third.

Senior Ashley Zirkle drew a walk to load the bases, before junior Dawnjene DeLong's grounder resulted in a force at the plate. With the bases still loaded, Sontag lifted a fly ball to left-center, with Vallas able to tag and score easily for the Falcons' seventh run. The sacrifice fly was Sontag's first and BG's eighth of the year.

In the sixth, Baca made a nice running catch of Strange's sinking liner to begin the half-inning. The Broncos looked to mount a rally after Heckaman reached on an error and Bartosz singled, but Wiemer struck out pinch-hitter Sarah Thomas and got a ground ball off the bat of Fuller for the final out.

In the seventh, Mroczek's two-out single was all the offense the Broncos could muster before Wiemer and the Falcons closed out the win.

Wiemer, as mentioned, allowed seven hits in the win, her 11th complete game in 17 starts. She threw 105 pitches Saturday, with 78 strikes among that total.

Sullivan took the loss to drop to 14-12. She allowed seven runs and nine hits, walking two batters and whiffing seven.

Mroczek had three of the Broncos' seven hits, while Bartosz had two safeties.

The Falcons and Broncos will return to the BGSU Softball Field for a single game Sunday (May 6) to close the regular season. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m., with 'Senior Day' festivities preceding the contest. BGSU's four seniors are Baca, Ramsey, Zirkle and Lauren Hoffman.

FALCON NOTES
* BGSU has hit a school-record 41 homeruns this season to date, having obliterated the previous mark of 29, set last year.

* The Falcons have hit seven homers in this weekend's three games, with three in Friday's 10-0 win over Northern Illinois, one more in Friday's nightcap (Baca's walk-off homer with two outs in the seventh) and the three roundtrippers on Saturday.

* BGSU's 31-9 record is the Falcons' best 40-game start in school history ... the program's previous best was 27-13 in the 1992 season ... BG was 26-14 through 40 games in both 1993 and 2000, and the Falcons were 25-15 at that juncture in both 2001 and 2006.

* The Falcons have won nine consecutive games at the BGSU Softball Field, since dropping a pair of contests to Kent State (March 30) to begin the home schedule ... BGSU has outscored opponents by a 59-21 margin in home games this year to date.