Saturday Softball: Falcons Fall to UMass in a Thriller, 7-6

Saturday, February 21

Charleston, S.C.

10:00 AM

Bowling Green State University

4-2

Massachusetts

3-4

Bowling Green

UMASS

Trista Mokienko homered twice in Saturday's UMass game

February 21, 2015 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Mokienko homers twice in opener; BGSU drops 7-1 decision to C of C in nightcap

By: MT. PLEASANT, S.C. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

A walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted the University of Massachusetts to a 7-6 victory over the Bowling Green State University softball team Saturday morning (Feb. 21).

Several hours later, host College of Charleston pulled away for a 7-2 victory over the Brown and Orange. Both games, part of the 2015 Cougar Classic, were held at Patriots Point.

BGSU-UMASS STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
BGSU-COLL. OF CHARLESTON STATISTICS: HTML | PDF

Sophomore Trista Mokienko led the Falcons at the plate vs. the Minutewomen, going 3-for-4 with a pair of homeruns. She scored two runs and drove in three. Juniors Marina Cobbs and Molly Holliday each had two hits, with Cobbs driving in two runs.

"Today was not our sharpest day," said BGSU head coach Shannon Salsburg. "We gave our opponents far too many leadoff runners and they took advantage of it.

"Our loss to UMass was tough. Both teams battled and fought back numerous times. If we take care of the ball on defense the way we are capable, the outcome is in our favor.

In the second game, offensively we didn't string hits together in game two the way we have all year."

In the UMass game, Mokienko got the Falcons on the board with a two-out homerun to leftfield in the top of the first. But, in the bottom of the inning, the Minutewomen knotted the score with an unearned run. Quianna Diaz-Patterson led off the frame with a single up the middle, and she came around to score when the next batter, Cote Clark, reached on a BGSU error. Clark wound up at third base on the play, but was stranded there as senior Jamie Kertes and her infield took care of business, getting three-straight groundouts without letting Clark advance home.

After a scoreless second inning, Holliday led off the third inning with an infield single. She advanced to second on a passed ball and, one out later, came around to score on a single up the middle by Cobbs. Cobbs then took second on a wild pitch and scored when Mokienko laced a single to left-center, giving the Brown and Orange a 3-1 lead.

Diaz-Patterson cut the BG lead in half, leading off the bottom of the third with a solo homer to center on a 3-2 pitch. Clark followed with a single, but Kertes struck out Tara Klee and got Taylor Carbone to hit a grounder to short for a force at second base. Carbone, however, would score on a single by Ashton Wince to tie the game, and UMass took the lead when Anna Kelley doubled to left center.

Junior Braiden Dillow replaced Kertes in the circle. Dillow walked Bridget Lemire, then walked Whitney Cooper to load the bases. But, Dillow got Mikayla Panko to swing and miss on a 1-2 pitch to get BG out of the inning.

Sophomore Haley Schrock opened the top of the fourth by reaching on an infield single. UMass hurler Meg Colleran struck out the next two BG batters, but after Schrock advanced all the way from first to third on a wild pitch, Holliday singled on a 3-2 pitch to plate Schrock and tie the contest once again.

Diaz-Patterson led off the bottom of the fourth with a single up the middle, but Dillow induced Clark to hit a grounder back to the circle to force Diaz-Patterson at second base, then got Klee to pop up to senior Chloe Giordano at third base. Dillow then struck out Carbone for the third out.

Mokienko gave the Falcons a 5-4 lead in the fifth, with a one-out solo homer. In the bottom of the inning, a hit-by-pitch gave UMass a one-out baserunner, but Dillow got a grounder to short for a fielder's choice, then whiffed Cooper to end the inning. It was her third consecutive inning-ending strikeout.

As a freshman in 2014, Mokienko hit .183 with totals of nine hits, three homers and seven RBI. Through the UMass game, she was hitting an even .500, and had matched her home-run total for all of last spring. Mokienko has nine hits in 2015 after totalling 19 last year, and she has seven RBI this season to date.

Senior Emily McClelland singled up the middle with one out in the sixth. McClelland was forced at second on a Holliday grounder, and Holliday then stole second, but was cut down at third to end the inning.

Dillow retired the first batter in the bottom of the sixth, before Diaz-Patterson doubled for her fourth hit of the day. Dillow whiffed the next hitter, getting Clark swinging on an 0-2 pitch, but Klee reached on an error as Diaz-Patterson came around to score. The unearned run tied the game at 5-5.

Carbone walked to move Klee to second, and Wince singled to plate Klee with the go-ahead run. Dillow got Kelley to hit a fly ball to left for the third out.

Sophomore Aspen Searle led off the top of the seventh with a double to right-centerfield, and UMass replaced Colleran with Emma Mendoker in the circle, but Cobbs greeted her with a game-tying double down the right-field line. Searle scored easily, and the game was tied at 6-all.

Mokienko was retired for the first time all day, hitting a fly ball to center for the first out. With freshman Kayla Koch at the plate, Cobbs stole third, and Koch worked Mendoker for a walk, putting runners at the corners with one out. But, Evangelista popped out for the second out of the inning. Schrock, however, drew a walk to load the bases, with pinch-runner Sami Parave moving to second, but Mendoker got an inning-ending strikeout.

In the UMass half of the seventh, Lemire led off with a single to left-center, and Cooper followed with a single up the middle, advancing pinch-runner Caitlyn Hickey to second, Panko singled through the right side to load the bases with no outs, bringing Diaz-Patterson – 4-for-4 on the day to that point – to the plate. Dillow caught her looking on a 1-2 pitch for the first out, but Clark's infield single plated Hickey with the winning run.

Diaz-Patterson led the way for the Minutewomen, going 4-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored. Clark and Wince each had two hits and two RBI as UMass had 12 hits to the Falcons' 10.

In the Falcons' second game of the day, Searle laced a leadoff single through the left side against College of Charleston starting pitcher Samantha Martin, but was stranded at first.

Walks led to runs for the Cougars in the early stages of the game, and the bottom of the first inning saw the home team break on top. Leadoff hitter Taylor Dupree drew a leadoff walk against Dillow. and the Cougar freshman stole second one out later. Rebecca Mueller also reached base via a walk, but Dillow got Carly Hansis to hit a popup to shallow left for the second out. Another walk, this time to Chandler Frisbie, loaded the bases, and Katie Padilla doubled to plate the game's first two runs before a Valerie Cassell fielder's choice got the Falcons out of the inning.

Koch cut the Falcons' deficit in half in a hurry, homering on the second pitch in the top of the second inning. The round-tripper was the second of her young collegiate career. One out later, Giordano singled through the left side of the Cougar infield, and McClelland's infield single put runners at first and second. Holliday followed suit, with her infield single loading the bases with one out, but Martin got out of the jam, as an apparent sacrifice fly by Searle was negated as it was ruled that Giordano had left third base early.

A walk to Brianna Davis and a single by Victoria Bratcher put two runners aboard for the Cougars in the bottom of the second, and sophomore Briana Combs replaced Dillow in the circle for the Brown and Orange. Dupree's infield single, however, gave the home team a 3-1 lead as Davis crossed the plate. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, and a walk loaded the bases.

BGSU got a key double play, as Mueller's liner to center was gloved by Holliday, and she fired a strike to the plate to cut down Bratcher attempting to score. BG catcher Evangelista applied the tag for the second out of the inning, but the Cougars still had runners at second and third. Combs, however, put Hansis in an 0-2 hole, then got a swinging strikeout to end the inning.

Mokienko singled to left-center with one down in the third inning, but an infield popup and a fly ball to right ended the half-inning. Combs worked a one-two-three frame in the bottom of the third, but the home team would plate four runs in the fourth.

Jordin Jones doubled down the left-field line with one out in that fourth inning, and took third base on a Dupree single. Dupree stole second, with Jones scoring on the throw to second. A Mackenzie Maples single plated Dupree, and with two outs, Hansis homered to score Maples ahead of her.

The Falcons' fifth frame saw Cobbs reach base on a one-out single, but she was erased on a double play. The hosts put two runners aboard in both the fifth and sixth innings, but did not add to their lead.

In the top of the seventh, BG got a run when Holliday singled up the middle with two outs, then scored as Searle ripped a double to left. But, Martin got the final out for the victory.

Dupree was 3-for-3 for the home team, scoring a pair of runs, while Searle and Holliday each had two hits for the Falcons in game two.

BGSU returns to the diamond on Sunday morning (Feb. 22), closing play in the Cougar Classic by taking on the University of Pittsburgh in a 9:00 a.m. start at Patriots Point.