Kertes Has Milestone Day as Falcons Blank Valpo

Wednesday, April 29

Bowling Green, Ohio

3:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

18-26

Valparaiso

12-33

Valparaiso

Bowling Green

Jamie Kertes (left) is congratulated by her teammates after one of her seven shutout innings Wednesday

Photo by: Larry Clapper

April 29, 2015 | Softball

Box Score

Evangelista’s homer accounts for both runs in BG victory

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Bowling Green State University softball senior Jamie Kertes certainly made the final home game of her career a memorable one.

Kertes threw a complete-game shutout, striking out a career-high 10 batters in the process, as the Falcons topped Valparaiso University, 2-0, Wednesday afternoon (April 29) at Meserve Field.

"It was definitely a bittersweet day today," said Kertes. "It was very exciting, and I just tried to enjoy being out on this field and not take it for granted. It's been an honor to play on this field."

BGSU-VU Photo Gallery - photos by Larry Clapper

Freshman Morgan Evangelista gave Kertes one more run than she would need, with a two-run homer in the first inning. Kertes scattered five hits and did not walk a batter in her first complete game of the season.

**JAMIE KERTES ON BGSU CAREER LISTS**
Appearances	172	1st
Games Started	108	T-1st
Innings Pitched	682.2	5th
Wins	51	T-4th
Strikeouts	504	4th
Saves	16	1st *
Strikeouts per 7 inn.	5.17	4th
* MAC Record

For Kertes, among those career-high 10 strikeouts was the 500th strikeout of her BGSU career. She is just the fourth Falcon pitcher to reach that milestone.

Kertes struck out three Valpo hitters twice each on Wednesday, including Kaitlyn Ranieri. The Crusader junior entered the game batting a team-leading .425, but went 0-for-3 with the two strikeouts.

"I think Jamie has taken her game to another level in the last few weeks," said BGSU coach Shannon Salsburg. "She was awesome today. She showed up, she threw strikes, and when you can throw a strike and get ahead, you are a totally different pitcher.

"Jamie was aggressive, went after their hitters and was dominant today. And for that to be her last game on this field, that makes me really happy. She's been the rock of our pitching rotation for four years, and she really came out and set the tone for us.

"Offensively, we got a runner on, we moved her and then Mo (Evangelista) came up with a big homerun with two strikes. It's been a while since we've had a first-inning lead. While we didn't add to it, I just thought our team was really consistent today, and that's going to be key as we head into a big weekend."

Taylor Lawson, the only player on either team with a two-hit day, lined a Kertes pitch through the left side of the BGSU infield to begin the game, but Kertes responded by getting three-straight outs. After a fielder's choice grounder to third resulted in Lawson being forced at second, Kertes threw a 2-2 pitch past Ranieri for her first strikeout of the day, and a grounder to shortstop ended the inning.

VU starter Ashlyn Montgomery retired the first two hitters she faced, before junior Marina Cobbs singled up the middle. Then, after Cobbs stole second, Evangelista turned on a 2-2 pitch and lined a ball to leftfield. The drive hit the top of the fence and bounced over, giving the Falcons a 2-0 lead. For Evangelista, the homer was her third of the season and her second at Meserve Field.

"I just wanted to go up there, stay within myself and not try to do too much," said Evangelista. "Then, I put myself in a hole, and needed to do something to get out of it.

"It's great to get an early lead like that. It definitely helps our pitchers' confidence and gives the entire team momentum when we can get ahead early."

Kertes allowed another hit in the second inning, on a single by Taylor Nadler with one out, but the senior induced Lindsey Norway to hit a grounder back to the circle for the second out, then whiffed Sierra Pico to retire the side.

In the bottom of the second, sophomore Haley Schrock hit a liner, but it was hit directly at third baseman Pico for the first out. Junior Braiden Dillow, making her first plate appearance of the season, followed by lining a ball over leaping second baseman Jorgi Calombaris and into rightfield for a base hit. But, Montgomery got a pair of grounders for the second and third outs.

"(Putting Braiden in the lineup) was something I was thinking about when I arrived at the ballpark today," said Salsburg. "In talking with the staff, we thought, 'let's see what we have,' and it worked out for us. We knew she would swing the bat, and she came up with a hit and even worked a walk. It was great to see. She hasn't had a ton of opportunities, but to have her go in, take her hacks and get a base hit was awesome."

Kertes sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a fly ball in the third inning, fanning Jenna Stauffenberg and Calombaris to increase her career total to 499. After three innings, Kertes had thrown 33 of her 42 pitches for strikes.

Sophomore Aspen Searle reached base on an infield error in the BG half of the third, but the next three Falcons were retired, including Cobbs on a liner to centerfield. In the top of the fourth, Valpo also had a runner reach base via an error, but Kertes got Stephanie Moreno to hit a soft liner to Cobbs in right, and Nadler grounded out to Searle at short.

Dillow's second plate appearance of the year again resulted in the junior reaching base, as she drew a two-out walk in the fourth inning. Freshman Kayla Koch then battled Montgomery through a lengthy at-bat, which ended with a single up the middle. But, with two runners aboard, VU got out of the inning on a grounder to the circle.

Senior third baseman Chloe Giordano made a nice play to begin the fifth inning, with a backhand stab of a hard-hit ball by Norway just inside the foul line. Giordano fired to first for the initial out of the inning. Pico reached on a bunt single, but Kertes picked up career strikeout number 500 as Stauffenberg went down swinging for the second out. Lawson's single through the left side put a pair of VU runners aboard, but Calombaris grounded out to Giordano to end the half-inning.

In the bottom of the inning, Cobbs drew a two-out walk against VU reliever Mollie Lindeman, but second baseman Calombaris covered a lot of ground to make a running catch of a foul pop by Evangelista beyond first base.

Kertes, however, was nothing short of dominant in the sixth. The four, five and six hitters in the Crusaders' batting order all struck out, as Kertes got Ranieri and Tarah McShane to swing and miss, then caught Moreno looking to retire the side.

BG went down in order in the home half of the sixth, and Searle made a nice pick of a short-hop grounder by Nadler to begin the seventh, firing to first baseman Koch for the first out of the inning. Pinch-hitter Sam Stewart struck out swinging, giving Kertes a career-high 10 in the game and leaving BG just one out away from victory.

Pico gave the visitors a glimmer of hope with a bloop double to shallow center. Junior centerfielder very nearly made a spectacular play, charging in and attempting a sliding catch. As Holliday came in and second baseman Katee Hinkle went out, Holliday made her sliding effort for the ball as Hinkle jumped over her, but the ball dropped for a hit.

But, Kertes got pinch-hitter Lanie Callaghan to hit a ground ball to Searle at short, and the sophomore threw to first for the game-ending out.

The visitors actually had a 5-4 advantage in hits on the day. Montgomery allowed two runs and four hits in four innings pitched. She walked one batter and struck out three. Lindeman threw two no-hit innings of relief, with one walk and one strikeout.

Kertes threw 106 pitches, including 75 strikes, in her first complete-game shutout of the year.

"Jamie was great today," said Evangelista. "Even in warmups, her spins were on point. I could tell warming up that she was going to be good. She was throwing harder than usual, and she just had that confidence about her, which was great to see."

"I definitely felt good (before the game)," said Kertes. "I felt like I was throwing the ball a lot harder. Morgan's homerun was huge, and it was great to have a lead, but I knew I just had to keep fighting because they could come back at any time. I didn't want to give them a chance to score and make it close."

Kertes made the 108th start of her BGSU career on Wednesday, tying the school record originally set by Jennifer Wolf (1993-97). Kertes already owns the BG career record for pitching appearances, and now has 172, and she is ranked fifth or better on several other BGSU career lists (see table near top of page).

"We need to take the way we played today into this weekend," said Kertes. "We have to keep pushing, one pitch, one hit, one inning at a time."

The Falcons now prepare for the final weekend of the regular season, heading to Michigan for four Mid-American Conference games. The Brown and Orange will meet Eastern Michigan in a Friday (May 1) doubleheader, with first pitch of the first game at 1:00 p.m. Then, BGSU will play single games at Central Michigan on both Saturday and Sunday (May 2-3). The Falcons need to win at least three of the final four games to have a chance at earning a berth in the MAC Tournament.

"It's always good to head into a big weekend coming off of a win, and especially on a win where we were consistent in all areas," said Salsburg. "We got great pitching, our defense was solid, and our offense put the ball in play. That's a good sign for us. We've got a day to prepare, and then we're off to Eastern and Central. It couldn't get any bigger for us than this weekend.

"We know have to take care of one pitch at a time, but if we play like we did today, and we play within ourselves, I know we are capable of having a big weekend and making a heck of a run at it. And, obviously getting a pitching performance like today never hurts, either."