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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
WESTERN KENTUCKY
Falcons Split on Day One of Buzz Classic
March 06, 2009 | Softball
March 6, 2009
Final Stats - BG vs. Western Kentucky
Final Stats - BG vs. Purdue
WOODSTOCK, Georgia - Head coach Shannon Salsburg and the Bowling Green State University softball team split on day one of the Buzz Classic in Atlanta, Georgia. The Falcons defeated regional foe Purdue 6-5 in extra innings but Western Kentucky was able to squeeze by the Orange and Brown, 4-3.
Melissa Bott recorded her first career win on the mound against the Boilermakers keeping them scoreless and only allowing one hit in three innings of work.
Leading the Falcon offense was Zada Lines with a team high four hits in seven at-bats including three RBIs and one run scored. Katelynn Boso hit a .667 batting average with one RBI while Susan Sontag hit a .600 on the day.
"Today was a big day for the growth of our team," said BGSU head coach Shannon Salsburg. "We didn't play as sharp as I wish we would have in the first game and that really cost us. We gave them three out of four runs but we grew and came back together and really found our identity as team against Purdue. It was a great win because it was a quality win and it was a team win, everybody contributed. Purdue continuously kept coming back and any time you can get a win over a Big Ten opponent it's fantastic. The reason you play those teams is because you know they will never quit and they will force you to become better for later in the year."
The Falcons will return to action Saturday (March 7) against Georgia State at 11:00 a.m., looking to remain undefeated against the Panthers, 2-0 in their all-time series and then take on Albany at 1:00 p.m. for the first time in program history.
Western Kentucky Squeezes Past Falcons, 4-3
The Bowling Green State University softball team opened the Buzz Classic against Western Kentucky, matching up against their Bowling Green counterpart from Kentucky for the first time in program history. Despite 10 hits against the Lady Toppers the Falcons fell 4-3.
The Falcon sticks got started early in the bottom of the first inning with four hits that turned into two runs, taking a 2-0 lead. Rachel Proehl got the offense going with a lead-off single. Karmen Coffey they moved Proehl over to second base with a sacrifice bunt. With two outs and a runner on second the Falcons rallied with three straight hits. Hayley Wiemer singled to centerfield to drive home Proehl. The Lady Toppers made a play on Proehl at the plate and smart base running landed Wiemer on second. Missy Bowman kept the Falcon rally going as she crushed a double to right center driving home Wiemer. Next up for the Orange and Brown was Zada Lines who singled up the middle to put runners on first and third. The Lady Toppers loaded up giving Susan Sontag first base on a walk, but the Falcons weren't able to score before Western Kentucky was able to the third out.
Both teams were kept scoreless in the second inning but the Lady Toppers finally struck in the third inning scoring two runs off of three hits to tie the game up 2-2.
Western Kentucky scored again in the top of the fourth inning after two Falcon errors, giving the Lady Toppers a 3-2 lead.
The Falcons answered right back in the bottom of the fourth inning as Sontag led-off for the Falcons with a double to leftfield, bringing Lindsay Arney to the plate. Arney laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Sontag to third. With one out Katelynn Boso single through the left side of the infield to score Sontag tying the game up once again, 3-3.
Both teams were kept scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings leaving the game tied up, 3-3 going into the top of the seventh inning.
The Lady Toppers were able to get their offense going once again with a lead-off triple to right center followed up by a single up the middle to give the Western Kentucky at 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Falcons weren't able to score in the bottom of the seventh falling to the Lady Toppers, 4-3.
The Falcons recorded 10 hits against Western Kentucky, matching their second best offensive outing of the season with four players recording multiple hit games. Leading the Orange and Brown attack was Sontag hitting a perfect 2-for-2 and one run scored. Also recording two hits for the Falcons were Bowman and Boso each going 2-for-3 with one RBI and Wiemer going 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored.
Bott, Falcons Defeat Boilermakers in Extra Innings
The Falcons took on regional opponent Purdue defeating them, 6-5 in eight innings in game two at the Buzz Classic.
For the second straight game the Falcons put up runs first scoring four runs in the first inning. Rachel Proehl led-off for the Falcons reaching base on an error by Purdue's third basemen. Then with two outs Hayley Wiemer was given first base on a base-on-balls bringing Missy Bowman to the plate. Bowman then reached first off of another Boilermaker error, loading the bases. The Falcons took advantage as Zada Lines singled to right center driving home two BG runs, 2-0. With runners on the corners, first and third, for the Falcons a Purdue passed ball scored Bowman and moved Lines to second base. Melissa Bott kept the Falcons going with a single through the left side of the infield to score Lines and give the Falcons a 4-0 lead over the Boilermakers.
The Boilermakers answered back scoring two runs in the bottom of the first off of four hits.
Both teams were kept scoreless in the second inning but Purdue came back in the third inning to score one run off of one hit and a Falcon error to cut BG's lead to one, 4-3.
Once again both teams were kept scoreless in the fourth inning but Purdue was able to score two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning off of a homer by Katie Mitchell, to give the Boilermakers their first lead of the game, 5-4.
BG fired right back as Melissa West sparked the Falcons in the top of the sixth with a lead-off triple off of the left center wall. Wiemer then drove West home to even up the score, 5-5 off of a sacrifice fly to shallow rightfield. With two-outs Lines kept the Falcon offense going with a single to right center. Susan Sontag followed her up with a line drive double to leftfield putting runners in scoring position for the Falcons, but BG wasn't able to score again in the sixth.
After tying up the game 5-5 in the top of the sixth Bott and the Falcon defense were able to keep the Boilermakers under wraps only giving up one hit between the sixth and seventh innings.
With neither team being able to score in the seventh inning the game was forced into extra innings putting the International Tie Breaker in place. West started on second base to begin the eighth inning for the Falcons bringing up Wiemer to the plate. Wiemer laid down a sacrifice bunt to move West to third with only one out. Bowman then stepped up to the plate hitting a hard ground ball to third base but Purdue was able to make the play and get the second out. With two outs and the winning running only 60 feet away for the Falcons, Lines singled through the left side of the infield to drive home West giving the Falcons a 6-5 lead over Purdue. The Boilermakers were able to get the final out before BG could score any more runs but one run turned out to be enough for the Orange and Brown.
The bottom of the eighth inning put an automatic runner on second base to start off the inning for Purdue as well. Much like the Falcons' half of the inning the Boilermakers were able to move the runner to third base off of a sacrifice bunt. Then with one out the next batter grounded out to West a third base. The final out for the Falcons came as Purdue's Kelly Miller was called out at the plate for an illegally batted ball as she stepped on home plate while making contact with the ball.
The Falcons' 6-5 win over Purdue extended their winning streak to two games over the Boilermakers. From the circle Bott recorded her first career win giving up no runs and only one hit in three innings of work.
Leading the Falcon bats was Lines going 3-for-4, including the game winning hit, three RBIs and one run scored. Also recording a hit for BG were Proehl, West, Sontag, and Bott.
