Falcons Power Past Belmont And Georgia State

Saturday, March 12

Atlanta, Ga.

11:00 am

Bowling Green State University

Belmont

March 12, 2011 | Softball

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Belmont Boxscore
Georgia State Boxscore

Atlanta, Ga. – The Bowling Green State University softball team completed its spring break trip at the Springhill Suites Buckhead Classic in strong fashion, defeating Belmont 4-2 and Georgia State 9-3 Saturday.

Bowling Green had 21 hits on the day and pitcher Zada Lines allowed no earned runs in 7.2 innings during the two games. She pitched a complete game victory in the opener against Belmont, the first complete game for a BGSU pitcher this year.

While Lines was dominating Belmont on the mound, she also sparked the Falcon offense early. Lines opened the second inning with a base hit and advanced to second on a fielding error. Andrea Arney followed with an RBI single that put Bowling Green on top 1-0. Arney then scored by stealing third and forcing a throwing error by the catcher that allowed her to come home for the 2-0 lead.

The Falcons added two more in the fourth as Lines once again got things started with a one out walk. Arney singled and Erika Stratton followed with an RBI double to make it 3-0 and put runners on second and third. Missy Bowman then reached on an error by the pitcher to push a fourth Falcon run across.

Belmont did rally in the fifth, helped by two Bowling Green errors. The Bruins' Ashley Hammer had a lead-off single and Mia Vierra plated her on a three-base error. Vierra eventually scored on another error to make it 4-2.

The Bruins had another chance in the seventh after a lead-off walk and a single put runners on first and second. Devon Schmitt grounded out to short but moved both runners up a base. Vierra came to the plate and hit a sinking liner to centerfield, where Lindsay Arney made a diving catch to keep the runners from scoring. The next batter fouled out to preserve the 4-2 win.

Andrea Arney had two of the Falcons' six hits in the game, adding two runs and an RBI. Lines went the whole way, giving up three hits and three walks, while striking out five and allowed two unearned runs.

In game two, all nine of Bowling Green's starters had at least one hit and the middle of the order dominated. The four through seven hitters combined to go 10-for-15 with six runs and five RBI. Both Stratton and Bowman went 3-for-4.

Georgia State took a 1-0 lead on starting pitcher Melissa Bott in the bottom of the second but the Falcons tied it in the third on Paige Berger's fourth home run of the season. The Falcons took the lead for good in the fourth on a Katie Yoho RBI groundout to make it 2-1.

The Falcons blew it open with six runs on seven hits in the fifth. With the bases loaded, Andrea Arney drove in two runs with a double and Stratton followed with an RBI single. Bowman singled up the middle to drive in another run and two more runs scored on a Lindsay Arney single, followed by a throwing error.

Leading 8-1, Bowling Green tacked on one more in the seventh on Bowman's third hit of the game, a base hit up the middle. Georgia State rallied with two runs in the bottom of the seventh but it was not enough to fight back from a seven-run deficit.

Bott picked up her first win of the season by going 6 1/3 innings on the mound, allowing three earned runs. She allowed six hits and walked three batters.

Belmont fell to 5-12 with the loss and Georgia State dropped to 9-13. Bowling Green improved to 4-12 and is scheduled to have 17 days off before playing at Michigan on March 30 at 4 p.m.