Falcons To Play Underdog Role In MAC Tournament

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Falcons Headed To MAC Tournament
Needing a win in its final game of the regular season to advance to the MAC Tournament, the Bowling Green softball team defeated Kent State 3-0 to earn the No. 8 seed in the double-elimination tournament. Junior pitcher Zada Lines threw a one-hit shutout, striking out 10 in the process. As fate would have it, BGSU will meet Kent State again as the Golden Flashes hung on to the No. 1 seed for the event. The two teams have split the season series each of the past three years and this game has the makings of an interesting No. 1 vs. No. 8 seeded match-up.

Scouting the Competition
The Falcons will face No. 1 seed Kent State in the opening round of the MAC Tournament. BGSU and Kent State split two games just three days prior to this match-up. Despite the loss, the Golden Flashes still won the MAC Regular Season Championship with a record of 30-20 overall and 17-5 in league play.

Lauren Grimes ranks second in the MAC with a .394 batting average and she has added 11 home runs, third-best in the league. In 22 conference games, Kent State ranks just eighth with a .265 team batting average but a league-best 24 homers have helped the team to produce enough offense to win consistently. However, the Golden Flashes have stolen just 14 bases in conference games, next-to-last in the league.

Kent State really thrives on the mound and the Golden Flashes' 1.93 ERA in league games ranks second in the MAC. Kylie Reynolds has pitched 121 of Kent's 152 innings in MAC games and is 15-3 with a 1.68 ERA. She has struck out a whopping 170 batters in those 121 innings. Overall, she is 23-14 with a 2.08 ERA and 337 strikeouts in 239 innings.

Head Coach Karen Linder is in her 14th season at Kent State and 27th leading a program. She is 405-317 with the Golden Flashes and 658-517-1 overall.

Last Time Out
Bowling Green went into the final weekend of the regular season clinging to the No. 7 seed for the MAC Tournament. After splitting a doubleheader with Buffalo Friday and losing the first game of Sunday's doubleheader to Kent State, the Falcons were in a must-win situation in game two against the team that would clinch the MAC title. All Zada Lines did was go out and throw a one-hit shutout and drive in a first-inning run that helped the Falcons to a 3-0 win. Bowling Green ended tied with Buffalo for seventh but lost the tiebreak to get the No. 8 seed.

BG In The MAC Tournament
A year ago, Bowling Green was swept out of the MAC Tournament in two games, losing to Ball State 5-0 and to Northern Illinois 9-4. But the year before that, the Falcons won their first two games before losing to Ohio back-to-back to come up just short of the tournament championship. Bowling Green has qualified for the MAC Tournament every year since 2003 and the Falcons won the event in 2004. All-time, BGSU is 21-27. Following is the team's record against each school:

Akron 2-0
Ball State 1-2
Central Michigan 1-8
Eastern Michigan 1-2
Kent State 1-3
Marshall 1-1 (No longer in the MAC)
Miami 2-2
Northern Illinois 5-2
Ohio 3-3
Toledo 1-1
Western Michigan 3-3

Fresh Faces At The Dish
For much of the season, Bowling Green's offense has revolved around freshmen. In fact, 19 of the team's 30 homers have come from players who are putting on a collegiate uniform for the first time this year. Paige Berger leads the way with 12 bombs, but Hannah Fulk has added four, Adrienne Dick has two, and Andrea Arney has one. Of the team's 72 extra base hits, 37 have come from freshmen.

Falcons Exceed Expectations
When the Mid-American Conference preseason poll was released in early February, the Falcons were picked to finish dead last in the MAC East Division, as chosen by the league's head coaches. In reality, the youthful team tied with Buffalo for fourth place, two games ahead of Akron. The Falcons split the season series with MAC regular season champion Kent State, swept the No. 5 seed Central Michigan, and split with both Northern Illinois and Buffalo, the No. 6 and No. 7 seeds, respectively.

Crossing Lines
Junior pitcher Zada Lines had her first career 10-strikeout game Friday in an extra inning loss to Buffalo but she waited little time to do it again. Sunday, she struck out 10 Kent State batters en route to a one-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory that clinched a bid to the MAC Tournament. Lines worked around three first-inning walks and only allowed two more base runners the rest of the way. On top of that, she has become a threat at the plate as well. In the last four games in which she has had a plate appearance, Lines is 8-for-13 with a home run, two doubles and six RBI.

Speed Kills
Senior Karmen Coffey stole her 16th and 17th bases of the year over the weekend. In fact, she has done that in just 18 attempts. Among MAC players with at least 15 stolen bases, only Toledo's Kate Ricchio (16-of-16) and Buffalo's Ashley Bertot (26-of-27) have a better stolen base percentage.

Records Are Made To Be Broken
With a home run in the top of the eighth inning at Ohio, Paige Berger became the program's all-time single season home run leader with 12. But she has an opportunity to finish among the all-time greats in a number of other categories as well. Her .713 slugging percentage currently ranks second in program history and she is tied for ninth with 33 RBI.

Leader Of The MAC
Paige Berger began her assault on the record books from the opening pitch of the 2010 season and once conference play started, she only got better. In conference games only, Berger leads the MAC in home runs and RBI, while ranking second in slugging percentage, fourth in total bases, sixth in batting average, and eighth in on-base percentage.

Fulk's Not Far Behind
Freshman Hannah Fulk also has a chance to work her way into the record book as she is on pace to finish in the top 15 single season leaders in four statistical categories. With 11 doubles, four homers, a .536 slugging percentage, and a team-best 26 walks, she could rank among the best Falcons ever in each of those stats. Her walk total is already the fifth-most in school history and her slugging percentage ranks 15th.

Nice Of You To Stop By
After playing the first 15 games of the season on the road, the Bowling Green softball team finally settled down at Meserve Softball Field for the home opener on April 2. Over the next 16 days, the Falcons played 10 home games, winning six times. But April 18 was the last chance for Falcon fans to see the softball team play at home as the team hit the road for the final 14 games of the regular season, including 12 MAC road games in a row to conclude the year.

The Awards Keep Piling Up
Zada Lines and Paige Berger swept the weekly MAC awards on April 13, being named Pitcher and Player of the Week. Lines went 2-0 against Toledo and popped her first homer of the season. Berger hit .750 during the series, including a home run to help the Falcons to the sweep.

Earlier in the season, Melissa Bott was named MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Week for her performance from March 29 through April 4. She had a 0.93 ERA in 15 innings that week, going 2-1 with 10 scoreless innings on the mound in the team's sweep of Central Michigan. She has a 3.75 grade point average in middle childhood education.

Even earlier than that, freshman Hannah Fulk was named MAC Player of the Week on Feb. 23 after leading the team to a 2-2 record at the Red and Black Classic in Athens, Ga. She had three doubles and her first career home run on the week to bat .500 with an 1.100 slugging percentage. She also went 2-for-2 on the basepaths and walked five times.

Salsburg Fronts the Falcons for a Fourth Season
Shannon Salsburg returns to the helm of the BGSU softball team for a fourth season. In her previous three seasons with the Falcons, Salsburg has racked up an overall record of 65-69 (.485) and an impressive overall Mid-American Conference record of 36-25 (.590). Salsburg's record in the MAC makes her the second winningest head coach in the conference. In 2009, Salsburg led the Falcons to an overall record of 13-33 and 8-14 in the the MAC. The Falcons found success against non-conference rivals including North Florida, Bradley, Texas-Arlington and Purdue, as well as MAC opponenets, Toledo, Akron, Ohio, Buffalo, Kent, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan. Lani Shaffer will be returning as assistant coach for her third season with Falcon softball program.

From the Batter's Box to the Coaches Box
Hayley Wiemer joined Salsburg and Shaffer as the third member of the coaching staff in fall 2009 and will work primarily as a pitching coach but will assist with all aspects of the team. Wiemer graduated from BGSU in 2009 and is one of the most decorated softball players in program history. As a player, Wiemer secured spots on the BGSU careers list and racked up a number of honors and awards. On her career, Wiemer ranks first in homeruns (32), slugging percentage (.600) and walks (121); second in strikeouts (557) and appearances (140); and third in RBI's (109), wins (53), strikeouts (20) and saves (7). She has been slected as an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American (2008), ESPN the Magazine Academic ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District (2007, 2008, 2009), All-MAC First-Team (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009), Academic All-MAC (2007, 2008, 2009), MAC All-Tournament Team (2007, 2008), MAC East Player of the Week, MAC East Pitcher of the Week, MAC Female Scholar Athlete of the Week and Lowe's Senior CLASS Candidate (2009).

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