Trip to Tampa Awaits Falcons

Friday, March 11

Clearwater, FL

11:30 AM

Bowling Green State University

North Dakota

Haley Schrock v Ohio - April 17 2015 - Ruben Kappler pic

Haley Schrock & the Falcons head to Tampa this weekend

Photo by: Ruben Kappler, BGSU Marketing & Communications

March 10, 2016 | Softball

BGSU to play five games at USF Under Armour Showcase

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

C O M I N G U P I N F A L C O N S O F T B A L L
USF Under Armour Showcase \|\| Fri.-Sun., March 11-13 \|\| Tampa, Fla.
BGSU vs. North Dakota	Fri., March 11 \| 11:30 a.m.
BGSU vs. East Carolina	Fri., March 11 \| 4:15 p.m.
BGSU vs. Hartford	Sat., March 12 \| 9:15 a.m.
BGSU vs. Fairfield	Sat., March 12 \| 11:30 a.m.
BGSU vs. South Dakota	Sun., March 13 \| 9:00 a.m.

BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
Releases/Notes/Softball Home Page: BGSU | N. Dakota | E. Carolina | Hartford | Fairfield | S. Dakota
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LEADING OFF
The Bowling Green State University softball team travels south to participate in a fifth tournament in as many weekends. The Falcons of head coach Sarah Willis head to Tampa, Fla., to play five games in the USF Under Armour Showcase from Frday through Sunday (March 11-13). BGSU will face North Dakota, East Carolina, Hartford, Fairfield and South Dakota on the trip.

LAST WEEK
The Falcons went a perfect 3-0 at the Tiger Clash in Towson, Md., last weekend. BGSU downed Morgan State by an 11-2 outcome on Saturday (March 5), then topped host Towson, 7-3, and MSU, 6-4, on Sunday (March 6). Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker hit an eye-popping .750 in the three games, while a pair of freshmen combined to pick up all three wins in the circle. Kiley Sosby was the winning pitcher in the first two contests, with complete-game efforts against MSU on Saturday and TU on Sunday, and Brooke Parker got the win with three innings of one-run (unearned) pitching in the second MSU contest.

RAKIN' IN THE AWARDS
On Wednesday morning (March 9), redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker was named both the MAC Player of the Week and the league's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week. Raker hit .750 in Towson, with nine hits in 12 at-bats. She had four extra-base hits, an on-base percentage of .769 and a slugging pct. of 1.333 on the weekend. Raker, a public health major at BGSU, has a cumulative GPA of 3.479.

LOCKED IN
Chelsea Raker singled in her first at-bat of Sunday's win over Towson, then hit a fly ball to right field that was caught. Believe it or not, that fly-ball out ended a streak of 11-straight plate appearances in which she had reached base, dating to Feb. 26. She was 7-for-7 with four extra-base hits, three walks and a hit-by-pitch in that time. After seeing that streak broken with the fly ball to right, Raker then proceeded to get four hits in her next five at-bats.

THERE SHOULD BE A NAME FOR THIS
Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker just missed hitting for the cycle, fallling a single shy, in the Falcons' 11-2 win over Morgan State on Saturday (March 5). She reached base in all five plate appearances, going 4-for-4 with a walk. Raker had two doubles, a triple and a homer in the win, for a slugging pct. of 2.750 on the day.

ONE MORE NOTE (FOR NOW) ABOUT RAKER
BGSU redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker is batting .786 over her last four games, having gone 11-for-14 at the plate in that time. She has raised her season batting average from .222 to a team-leading .415 during that stretch.

SOSBY IS STRONG IN THE CIRCLE (AND AT THE PLATE)
Freshman Kiley Sosby picked up two of BGSU's three wins in the circle at Towson, throwing a pair of complete games. She fired a three-hitter against Morgan State on Saturday, striking out eight batters, the highest total of her young career. Sosby needed only 73 pitches to pick up that win. Then, the next day, she allowed only one earned run and four hits in a 7-3 win over Towson, a team that had scored 42 runs over its three previous games. Sosby also hit the first homer of her collegiate career in that win, with a two-run shot that tied the game at 3-3. On the year, she is 5-3 in the circle, and leads the team in wins, innings pitched (44 2/3), strikeouts (40) and opponent batting average (.237).

SEARLE STEPS UP
Junior Aspen Searle has been one of BGSU's top players over her first two seasons, but she got off to a slow start in 2016. The middle infielder missed the Falcons' first tourney of the season due to injury – the first games she had missed at BG after starting all 100 games in 2014 and '15. She came off the bench in four games in the second weekend of the year, before returning to the starting lineup on Feb. 26. Searle hit .182 over her first six games of the season, but has batted .444 over the last five, going 8-for-18 in that time. Last weekend in Maryland, Searle was 5-for-12 with a 1.000 slugging percentage and seven runs batted in. She had a double and a homer, scoring three runs and driving in three, in Saturday's win over Morgan State. Then, the next day, her three-run shot broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning of a second win over MSU. On the season, Searle is hitting .345 with a .690 slugging pct.

ALL SHOOK UP
• Senior Marisa Shook has gotten her 2016 season off to a tremendous start. She is hitting .396 and leads the team in runs scored, hits, doubles (five), homers (seven), RBI and total bases (45). Shook also paces the Falcons with a slugging percentage of .938, and is second on the team with an on-base pct. of .482.

• Shook entered the season with three career homers, but she recently homered in three-straight contests, including the first Morgan State game. Shook has seven homers this season and 10 in her career.

• She also has 15 runs scored and 14 RBI this spring after totaling two runs and one RBI last year. She had a seven-game hitting streak to begin the year, and recently had a five-game streak.

• The Maumee, Ohio, native had a total of six hits (none for extra bases) during all of last season, but she has 19 hits, including 12 extra-base hits, this year to date.

SHOOK SHAKES UP THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
As of Wednesday morning (March 9), senior Marisa Shook was ranked 12th in the nation in home runs per game (0.44) and 14th in slugging percentage (.938).

HEAD COACH SARAH WILLIS
• Sarah Willis is in her first season as a collegiate head coach, with an 8-8 record to date. She earned her first career victory when the Falcons downed Robert Morris, 7-1, on Feb. 14. Willis was hired at BGSU on July 1, 2015, after a highly-successful stint on the staff at the University of Dayton. During the 2015 season, her first with UD, Willis helped the Flyers to a 39-14 overall record and an Atlantic 10 Conference mark of 20-2. UD broke the school record for wins in a season, and the Flyers earned the first A-10 regular-season title in program history. Dayton also advanced to the A-10 Tournament Championship final for the first time in history.

• Willis joined the Dayton program after spending two seasons (2012-14) as an assistant coach as Southeast Missouri State University. She also spent several years (2010-12) as an assistant coach at Princeton University. Willis began her coaching career as a student assistant coach at Texas Tech University, her alma mater. She pitched for the Red Raiders from 2005-08, and finished her career with 22 wins and 298 strikeouts in 113 appearances. She was named to the Texas Tech dean's and president's honor lists. In 2007, Willis had the highest GPA of any female athlete at the school.

• Willis graduated from Texas Tech in 2008, with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She went on to earn her master's degree in exercise and sport sciences from TTU in 2010.

• Brittany Lastrapes and Tiffany Ricks have joined the Falcons, while BGSU softball alumna Kolleen Kopchak is in her third season on the staff of her alma mater.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 8-8 on the young season, and BGSU has won three-straight games heading into the USF Under Armour Showcase. BG opened the year at Cleveland State's Dome Invitational, posting a 1-3 mark, before the Falcons went 2-2 at the Rafter Memorial, hosted by Kennesaw State.

• Two weekends ago, BG was 2-3 at the South Alabama Invitational, as the Falcons downed two-time defending Ivy League champion Dartmouth twice. And, last weekend, the Brown and Orange went 3-0 at Towson's Tiger Clash, with two wins against Morgan State and one over the host school.

• BGSU has scored 86 runs and allowed 71 this season to date. The Falcons have a team batting average of .287 to the opponents' .259.

• Three Falcons have started all 16 games. That trio includes seniors Marina Cobbs and Marisa Shook and junior Haley Schrock. Sophomore Katee Hinkle and redshirt soph Chelsea Raker each have made 14 starts, while true soph Kayla Koch has started 13 games this year to date.

• Raker leads the team with a .415 batting average, and has nine walks and a .538 on-base percentage to pace the Falcons in both of those categories as well. She returned to the field after missing all of the 2015 season due to injury. Raker was an All-Mid-American Conference Second-Team selection as a freshman in '14.

• Shook is hitting .396 on the year, good for second on the team. She paces the Falcons in runs (15), hits (19), doubles (five), homers (seven), RBI (14), total bases (45) and slugging pct. (.938). Shook has obliterated her 2015 totals in nearly every category.

• Both Shook and Raker have been named MAC Player of the Week this season.

• Sophomore Morgan Evangelista and junior Aspen Searle are hitting .370 and .345, respectively. Evangelista was 3-for-6 last weekend in Towson. Searle, who missed the opening weekend of the season due to injury, still ranks third on the team in RBI (nine), total bases (20) and slugging pct. (.690)

• Schrock and Hinkle are batting .340 and .300, respectively. Schrock leads the team with 53 at-bats, and she is second on the Falcons in hits (18) and third in total bases (24). Hinkle has scored 10 runs to rank second on the team in that category, and she has an on-base pct. of .462, good for third on the Falcons.

• Five different pitchers, including two freshmen, have seen action. Junior Briana Combs leads the Falcons with a 2.95 earned-run average, and has allowed opponents to hit just .250 against her.

First-year Falcons Kiley Sosby and Brooke Parker have earned-run averages of 2.98 and 3.40, respectively. Sosby leads the pitching staff in games started (eight), wins (five), innings pitched (44 2/3) and strikeouts (40). Parker has made a BG-high nine appearances in the circle this season to date, and picked up her first win in Sunday's Morgan State game.

• Senior Braiden Dillow has a 1-1 record and 15 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings pitched, while classmate Katie Turski appeared in a pair of games in relief at South Alabama.

• A total of 21 different players have seen action, with 16 of those 21 making at least one start.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA
• North Dakota is 5-13 on the season. The Fighting Hawks will face Central Michigan on Friday morning before meeting BGSU.
• The team's wins have come against Iowa State, Virginia, St. Peter's, Eastern Kentucky and Harvard.
• Sophomore 3B Shelby Hard leads the team with a .339 batting average. She has four homers and 10 RBI to pace UND this spring.
• Senior OF Nicole Babrowski has walked an incredible 24 times through 18 games (leading the nation in that category). She has a team-leading seven stolen bases, and her total of 11 runs scored trails only Hard's 12.
• In the circle, redshirt sophomore Kaylin VanDomelen has started 10 of the 18 games, and is 4-6 with a 3.14 ERA. True soph Hannah Bergh is 1-6 with a 4.75 ERA in seven appearances, including six starts.
• Head coach Jordan Stevens is a 2004 graduate of BGSU. He began his coaching career as the head coach at Notre Dame Academy in Toledo from 2004-06.
• Stevens welcomed back 12 letterwinners, including six starting position players and a pair of pitchers, from last year's team that went 12-43 overall.

A LOOK AT EAST CAROLINA
• East Carolina is 13-10 this year, after a 7-3 loss at Florida International on Tuesday (March 8). The Pirates have lost three-straight games after winning six of the previous seven contests.
• ECU will face Northern Kentucky on Friday afternoon before meeting BGSU later in the day.
• Senior OF Meredith Mitchell and junior OF Ciara Ervin each are hitting .317 on the season, and Mitchell has walked a team-leading 16 times.
• Junior Lydia Ritchie has started 11 games in the circle, and has a 1.69 ERA, four shutouts and 65 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings. Ritchie also has picked up two saves on the young season.
• Head coach Courtney Oliver is in her first season at the helm of the Pirates.
• A total of 15 players returned from last year's team that finished 16-37 overall and 7-11 in the American Athletic Conference.

SCOUTING HARTFORD
• Hartford is 1-12 on the season, after dropping both ends of a Wednesday doubleheader with Central Connecticut State. The Hawks are looking to snap a seven-game losing streak following a 5-4 win over Monmouth.
• Hartford will face IPFW and Winthrop on Friday before meeting BGSU Saturday morning.
• Senior Sawyer Fried is hitting .361 with a .472 slugging percentage, leading the team in both categories. Sophomore Elizabeth Newkirk is batting .353 and junior Danielle DeMarco .289. DeMarco has two of the team's three homers this year for head coach Sarah Kalka.
• Freshman Melissa Pereira has started four games in the circle, and has a 5.91 ERA and one save. As a team, the Hawks have allowed opponents to hit .373 and score a total of 98 runs this season.
• Last spring, the Hawks went 3-43 overall and finished 0-17 in America East Conference play.

A LOOK AT FAIRFIELD
• Fairfield has a 4-6 record heading into the weekend. The Stags face North Florida and Winthrop on Friday, then meet Northern Kentucky Saturday morning before facing the Falcons later that morning.
• The Stags have faced a pair of MAC teams in Florida this week, defeating Western Michigan on Tuesday before falling to Central Michigan Wednesday. Fairfield had won four of five games prior to the loss to CMU.
• Freshman Alisha Marshall is batting .500 on the year, having gone 10-for-20. Junior Tori Reed is hitting .371 with team-leading totals of 13 hits, eight runs scored and seven RBI.
• Senior Lauren Falkanger and sophomore Destinee Pallotto each have started four games in the circle. Falkanger is 2-1 with a team-leading 3.58 ERA, while Pallotto has a 2-3 record and a 4.76 ERA.
• Head coach Julie Brzezinski's Stags were picked to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 2016, according to the league's preseason poll.
• Fairfield finished with a 25-24 overall record last spring, earning a share of the MAAC regular-season title with a 15-5 mark, before capturing the conference tourney crown and advancing to the NCAAs.

SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA
• South Dakota is 2-20 on the year after dropping a pair of games on the road against Florida, the number-one team in the nation, Wednesday.
• The team's wins have come against Texas Tech and LIU Brooklyn.
• The Coyotes have the Summit League's top hitter in senior 1B Yvon Minogue, who is hitting .449 entering the UF twinbill. Minogue recently set the school record for career doubles. She has six two-base hits and three homers to lead the team in both categories.
• Minogue was an all-region performer last year, when she led the Summit League with a .470 batting average.
• Senior Madison Frain and junior Rachel Cue have combined to start all but two games in the circle. Frain is 1-8 with a 6.26 ERA, while Cue is 1-10 with a 7.34 ERA heading into the weekend. Both hurlers earned All-Summit League honors a year ago for head coach Amy Klyse.
• This weekend, the 'Yotes are scheduled to face Northern Kentucky, Central Michigan, Army and USF before meeting the Falcons on Sunday morning.
• Last year, the Coyotes went 28-25-1 overall and 13-4 in conference play, and USD advanced to the championship game of the conference tournament.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads North Dakota, 2-0, in the all-time series between the teams. The Brown and Orange swept a doubleheader at Meserve Field, winning by scores of 3-0 and 8-0 (April 7, 2014).

• BG trails East Carolina, 6-3, in that series, and the Pirates won the most recent meeting, 4-0, at the Hoo's Who Tournament in Charlottesville, Va., in 2005. The teams met twice at that tourney after meeting on three consecutive days the previous year at the Cougar Classic in Mount Pleasant, S.C. They have split their last four meetings.

• The Falcons downed Hartford by an 8-3 score in the teams' lone prior meeting, which came nine years ago (March 4, 2007) in Charleston, S.C.

• BGSU has never met Fairfield or South Dakota on the softball diamond.

EXTRA INNINGS (a few final Falcon notes)...
• The Falcons hit four homers in Saturday's 11-2 win over Morgan State. It marked the team's highest total in nearly three years, since BGSU went deep five times in a win at Detroit (April 2, 2013).

• The four homers in that win included back-to-back-to-back jacks in the third inning, as redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker, junior Aspen Searle and senior Marisa Shook homered in succession.

• BGSU's total of 15 hits in that win included 10 of the extra-base variety – five doubles, a triple and the four homers.

• The Falcons were 9-of-18 with runners on base in Sunday's Towson game.

• As a team, the Falcons are hitting .370 with runners in scoring position this year to date. Searle (3-for-5) and seniors Molly Holliday (6-for-10) and Braiden Dillow (3-for-5) all are hitting .600 in such situations, while Shook is batting .563 (9-for-16) and Raker .545 (6-for-11).

COMING UP...
Following the trip to Tampa, the Falcons will return to the Midwest to prepare for a game against nationally-ranked Notre Dame. BGSU will travel to face the Fighting Irish on Thursday, March 17, before heading to Bloomington for the Hoosier Classic that weekend (March 18-19). The Brown and Orange will face IPFW, Western Illinois, Michigan State and UIC at that tourney.

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