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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Travel to Tiger Territory
March 06, 2008 | Softball
March 6, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Release in PDF Format
The Falcons will pack their bags and head south for the second straight tournament this season as the Auburn Tigers welcome the Orange and Brown to the War Eagle Classic. This weekend's tournament will be the first time in BGSU softball history that the Falcons will play a tournament in the state of Alabama. The Falcons are set to square off against four teams from the south, including teams from Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.
BISON AND TIGERS AND BIRDS OH MY...
The Orange and Brown will open their second consecutive tournament against the Lipscomb Lady Bison on Friday (Mar. 7) at 10:00 a.m. and then match-up against host Auburn (Mar. 7) at 12:30 p.m.. Day two (Mar. 8) will be the battle of the birds as the Falcons take on the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles at 5:30 p.m. and the Georgia Southern Eagles at 8:00 p.m.. The final day of the tournament has yet to be determined as BG will take the field once more on Sunday (Mar. 9) based on the results of the first two days.
FALCONS LIVE FROM AUBURN, ALABAMA
For all Falcon fans that can't make it to the live action on the field in Auburn, Alabama the Falcons will be live on Gametracker via the internet on day one and two (Mar. 7 & 8) of the War Eagle Classic. Falcon fans can log onto Gametracker to by visiting www.BGSUfalcons.com.
MATCH-UPS ON THE DIAMOND
Lipscomb University - Lady Bison (3/7 - 10:00 a.m.)
The Falcons will open up the War Eagle Classic against the Lady Bison ... this will be the second meeting between the two teams this season and the second straight tournament that the Falcons will kick off against Lipscomb .... Lipscomb is currently 5-9 on the season, after losing to Charleston Southern, 4-3 (Mar. 4) ... the Falcons fell 10-9 to the Lady Bison in their first meeting at the Chattanooga Classic (Feb. 22) ... despite the loss to the Lady Bison the Falcons had their best outing at the plate hitting .394 as a team.
Auburn University - Tigers - (3/7 - 12:30 p.m.)
The Orange and Brown will take on host Auburn for the first time in program history ... the Tigers are currently 15-3 after posting a 3-2 record at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Columbus Georgia ... the Tigers defeated Georgia Tech (3-2), Charlotte (4-0) and Syracuse (6-0) and fell to Winthrop (1-0) and Massachusetts (6-3).
Tennessee Tech University - Golden Eagles - (3/8 - 5:30 p.m.)
Falcons will start off day two of the tournament against Tennessee Tech ... the Golden Eagles are currently 8-11-1, after winning their home opener against Charleston Southern (11-3) ... the Golden Eagles lead the all-time series 2-0 over the Falcons ... the last meeting between the two was at the Frost Classic in Chattanooga, Tenn. in 2005 where the Falcons dropped a 1-5 decision to the Golden Eagles
Georgia Southern University - Eagles - (3/7 - 8:00 p.m.)
BG will match-up against Georgia Southern for the first time in program history to wrap up day two of the tournament ... the Eagles are currently 14-10, on a five game winning streak posting a perfect record at the Magic City Classic in five shutouts.
VALLAS NAMED LOWE'S SENIOR CLASS AWARD FINALIST
Senior tri-captain Allison Vallas was named one of the top thirty softball senior student-athletes in the nation. Vallas, a Perrysburg, Ohio native, is the first Falcon to receive this honor and was one of the three Mid-American Conference student-athletes to be named to this prestigious list. She is an exercise science major with a 3.95 GPA and a two-time All-MAC selection, a two-time Academic All-MAC honoree and has been named to the ESPN the Magazine All-District Team.
FALCONS AT THE TOP OF THE MAC
In only one weekend of play the Falcons smashed their way into the Mid-American Conference leaders with their big sticks. The Falcons have one or more players in the top ten of the MAC in every hitting category. Junior Hayley Wiemer is tied as the best hitter in the MAC with .500 batting average. Wiemer also leads the MAC in RBIs (1.40 RBIs per game), slugging percentage (1.000) and on base percentage (.632). Senior Dawnjene DeLong is third in the MAC in batting average (.438), hits (7) and slugging percentage (.875). Senior Allison Vallas tied for third in the MAC in hits (7), sixth in on base percentage (.474) and seventh in hitting percentage (.412).
FALCON BATS OPEN SEASON WITH A BANG
The Falcons opened the 2008 season hitting .394 batting average as a team, with six players hitting .500 batting average or better, including three players hitting a perfect 1.000.
Senior Dawnjene DeLong went a perfect three-for-three a homer shy of a cycle, with a single, double and triple scoring three runs for the Orange and Brown.
Junior Hayley Wiemer opened the 2008 with bang totaling two homers, a double and a career high seven RBIs in the first game of the season. In her first appearance at the plate of the season Wiemer blasted a two-run homer over the center field wall. In her third at-bat of the game she knocked a double off the left-center field wall. Wiemer's final at bat of the 2008 season opener was a smashing three-run homer over the center field wall.
Freshman Rachel Delp also hit her first career long ball over the left field wall in the Falcons season opener.
2008 OUTLOOK
Shannon Salsburg will enter the dugout for her second season at the helm of the Bowling Green softball team on February 22, 2008 at the Chattanooga Classic. Salsburg and the Falcons look to build on the success of last year's record breaking season of 33-12, posting the highest winning percentage (.733) in BGSU softball history.
In her first season with the Falcons, Salsburg recorded the most wins and fewest losses of any other BGSU head softball coach in their first year. Salsburg's Falcons are comprised of the 15, seven returners, including four All-MAC players and a All-Region selection, and eight rookies that bring a great amount of depth to the Orange and Brown.
Along with bringing new life to the rich tradition and history of the Falcon softball team, Salsburg has brought in a new coaching staff with Lani Southwell and Tina McCauley. Both Southwell and McCauley bring with them a great knowledge of the game, experience, and success on the field as collegiate athletes and coaches.
Salsburg looks to bring this new "softball family" together along with a much tougher schedule to propel the Falcons to accomplishing their goal of a MAC championship and reaching the next level as regional champions.
SALSBURG FIRST HEAD COACH IN OPENING SEASON TO ...
In her first season at the helm of the Falcons head coach Shannon Salsburg recorded the most wins and fewest losses of any head coach in their first season with a 33-12 record ... she is the only first year head coach to lead her team to more than 25 wins ... the first head coach to post a winning record at the end of her first opening weekend, with a 4-1 record and being crowned the back-to-back champions of the Panera Bread Challenge ... her team is the only team to hit more than 40 homeruns in a single season ... she is the most efficient first year head coach posting on overall winning percentage of .733 with a record of 33-12 and a MAC winning percentage of .700 with a conference record of 14-6 ... Salsburg's .733 overall winning percentage also makes her the most efficient head coach in BGSU softball history.
FALCONS ALL OVER FINAL STATISTICS
The Orange and Brown had one of the most successful seasons in BGSU softball history, which was evident as both the team and individual players were ranked in the final 2007 national statistics ... as a team the Falcons were ranked in the top 50 in four categories and in the top 100 in seven categories ... the team was ranked 10th in the nation in ERA (1.54), 17th in win-loss percentage (.733), 26th in the country in homers per game, blasting 47 homers in 45 games (1.04 homers per game), 47th in slugging percentage (.449) ... they were also ranked in the top 100 in scoring (66th, 4.67 runs per game), fielding percentage (86th, .962) and doubles (98th, 1.18 per game) ... Falcon standouts Hayley Wiemer, Emily Gouge and Jeanine Baca represented BGSU in the individual categories ... Wiemer was ranked no fewer than eight times in the final rankings ... at the plate she was 33rd in batting average (.413), which was good for sixth nationally among sophomores, 26th in slugging percentage (.746), 43rd in walks per game (0.62), 58th in RBIs per game (0.87) and 62nd in homeruns per game (0.24 -- a BGSU record of 11 in 45 games) ... on the mound Wiemer ranked 29th in earned-run average (1.45 ERA), 98th in victories (17) and tied for 82nd in saves (2) ... the Falcons were only one of six teams to have two hurlers rank in the top 20 in ERA as Gouge was ranked 48th (1.59 ERA), 61st in strikeouts per seven innings (7.6) and tied for 82nd in saves (2) ... Baca finished her career as a Falcon ranked seventh on the `toughest to strike out' list only whiffing once per 29.4 at-bats (striking out only five time in 147 AB0, was ranked 30th in runs scored (0.96) and 69th in doubles per game (0.27).
`07 FALCONS MOST EFFICIENT TEAM IN PROGRAM HISTORY
The Orange and Brown of 2007 became the most efficient team in BGSU softball program history recording a .733 winning percentage with a record of 33-12 in Salsburg's first year at helm ... `07 squad surpassed the mark of .698 winning percentage set by head coach Jacquie Joseph and the 1992 team with a record of 37-16.
FIVE FALCONS GARNER ALL-MAC HONORS
For the second year in a row five Falcons were named to the 2007 All-MAC Team ... senior Jeanine Baca, junior Allison Vallas, and sophomore Hayley Wiemer were named to the All-MAC first-team, while juniors Dawnjene DeLong and Emily Gouge were named to the second team ... Baca, a center fielder, earned her second All-MAC selection and first first team nod as she was named to the second team in 2004 ... Vallas also earned her second All-MAC nod and her first first team selection as she was named to the second team in 2005 ... Wiemer earned her second first team All-MAC selection ... Wiemer was named MAC Freshman of the Year in her 2006 rookie season ... DeLong and Gouge each received their first all-conference selection as they were both named to the second team ... this marks the second straight season that the Falcons received five all-league selections, including three first-team choices.
