Bowling Green State University Athletics
Thursday, March 17
South Bend, IN
5:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Notre Dame
Senior Molly Holliday & the Falcons head to Indiana for 5 games
Photo by: Larry Clapper
BGSU Faces Nationally-Ranked Irish to Begin 5-Game Indiana Swing
March 15, 2016 | Softball
Then, Falcons will play four games in IU's Hoosier Classic This Weekend
| C O M I N G Â U P Â I NÂ Â F A L C O N Â S O F T B A L L | ||
| BGSU at #19 Notre Dame | Thu., March 17 | 5:00 p.m. | |
| Hoosier Classic || Fri.-Sat., March 18-19 || Bloomington, Ind. | ||
| BGSU vs. IPFW | Fri., March 18 | 11:30 a.m. | |
| BGSU vs. Western Illinois | Fri., March 18 | 4:00 p.m. | |
| BGSU vs. Michigan State | Sat., March 19 | 10:00 a.m. | |
| BGSU vs. UIC | Sat., March 19 | 4:45 p.m. | |
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LEADING OFF
The Bowling Green State University softball team heads to Indiana this weekend, playing five games as the non-league portion of the schedule begins to wind down. The Falcons of head coach Sarah Willis will take on nationally-ranked Notre Dame on Thursday evening (March 17) in South Bend, before heading to Bloomington to play four games in the Hoosier Classic. BGSU will face IPFW and Western Illinois on Friday (March 18) before meeting Michigan State and UIC Saturday (March 19).
HOOSIER CLASSIC
Andy Mohr Field • Bloomington, Ind.
Friday, March 18
Bowling Green vs. IPFW, 11:30 a.m.
UIC vs. IPFW, 1:45 p.m.
Bowling Green vs. Western Illinois, 4:00 p.m.
Indiana vs. UIC, 6:15 p.m.
Saturday, March 19
Bowling Green vs. Michigan State, 10:00 a.m.
Wright State vs. Michigan State, 12:15 p.m.
Indiana vs. Western Illinois, 2:30 p.m.
UIC vs. Bowling Green, 4:45 p.m.
Wright State vs. IPFW, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 20
Michigan State vs. Western Illinois, 10:00 a.m.
Michigan State vs. IPFW, 12:15 p.m.
Western Illinois vs. Wright State, 2:30 p.m.
Indiana vs. Wright State, 4:45 p.m.
QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"We will face some of our toughest competition this weekend, and it will be a great opportunity to challenge our program's consistency. Notre Dame is an extremely well-balanced program with speed and power. We will need to play fundamental softball against them to keep their speed off the bases. Michigan State is a similar program where they will try to challenge us with their speed. All together, the pitching we will be facing is highly competitive and will challenge our hitters to adjust early. We are looking to stay aggressive at the plate and to jump on teams early this weekend. Every team that we will this weekend does something well, whether that be power, speed, or strong pitching, and we will need to make adjustments early and play fundamental softball."
LAST WEEK
The Falcons went 3-2 at the USF Under Armour Showcase in Clearwater, Fla. BGSU picked up wins over North Dakota, Fairfield and South Dakota, while falling to East Carolina and Hartford. Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker led the Falcons in hitting for the second-straight weekend, going 7-for-15 (.467) at the plate in the five games. Freshman Kiley Sosby was 2-0 with a 1.21 ERA in the circle, while junior Briana Combs had a 1-1 record and an ERA of 1.85 on the weekend. Combs allowed opponents to hit just .136 against her, while Sosby had an opponent batting average of only .158.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 11-10 on the season, and BGSU has won two-straight games and six of the last eight contests heading into Thursday's Notre Dame game.
• Last weekend, the Falcons went 3-2 at the USF Under Armour Showcase, with wins over North Dakota, Fairfield and South Dakota, and losses against East Carolina and Hartford.
• BGSU 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. The following weekend, BG went 2-3 at the South Alabama Invitational, and the Brown and Orange then went 3-0 at Towson's Tiger Clash prior to heading to Clearwater.
• BGSU has scored 101 runs and allowed 85 this season to date. The Falcons have a team batting average of .274 to the opponents' .245.
• Two Falcons – senior Marisa Shook and junior Haley Schrock – have started all 21 games this season. Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker and true soph Katee Hinkle each have made 19 starts, while seniors Marina Cobbs and Molly Holliday have started 18 and 17 games, respectively.
• Raker leads the team with a .429 batting average, and has hit .593 (16-of-27) in the month of March. Raker paces the Falcons with 24 hits and an on-base percentage of .543, and she is tied for the BG lead with 12 walks. She is second on the club in doubles, home runs, runs batted in and slugging pct. (.661)
• Shook is hitting .328 on the year, good for second on the team. She paces the Falcons in runs (16), homers (seven), RBI (16), total bases (47) and slugging pct. (.734) and is second on the club in doubles and on-base pct. Shook has obliterated her 2015 totals in nearly every category.
• Both Shook and Raker have been named MAC Player of the Week once this season to date.
• Sophomore Morgan Evangelista is batting .325 this season, while Schrock and junior Aspen Searle are right behind at .324 and .319, respectively. Searle, who missed the opening weekend of the season due to injury, still ranks third on the team in RBI (12) and slugging pct. (.553).
• Five different pitchers, including two freshmen, have seen action. First-year Falcon Kiley Sosby leads the team with a 2.48 earned-run average, while junior Briana Combs has a 2.54 ERA. Combs has allowed opponents to hit just .210 against her, while Sosby has a .217 opponent batting average.
Sosby is 7-3 on the year, and has won her last four decisions. She tops the pitching staff in games started (11), wins, innings pitched (62) and strikeouts (55). Combs has a record of 2-3 and 23 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings this spring.
• Freshman Brooke Parker and senior Braiden Dillow each are 1-2 on the season. Parker has appeared in 10 games, including a team-high eight in relief, while Dillow is averaging a strikeout per inning. Senior Katie Turski appeared in a pair of games in relief on the South Alabama trip.
• A total of 22 different players have seen action, with 17 of those 22 making at least one start.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
• Notre Dame is 21-3 this year to date, and the Fighting Irish are off to a 3-0 start in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
• UND is 19th in the nation in each of this week's polls, the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.
• The Irish will bring a 17-game winning streak into Thursday's game.
• Notre Dame is averaging 7.6 runs per game, and the Irish scored a total of 32 runs in a three-game sweep of Virginia last weekend.
• No fewer than six players are hitting over .350, as the Irish are batting .354 as a team. Junior OF Karley Wester and freshman IF Melissa Rochford are hitting .463 and .456, respectively.
• Wester paces the club with 31 runs scored, 44 hits, 51 total bases and 20 stolen bases on the season.
• Rochford was named ACC Player of the Week on Monday. She leads the team in on-base percentage (.547) and RBI (28), and is tied for the team lead with a .676 slugging pct.
• In the circle, senior Allie Rhodes has a 10-2 record, 81 strikeouts and a 2.50 ERA. Junior Rachel Nasland is a perfect 6-0 with a 1.63 ERA. Both Rhodes and Nasland have an opponent batting average of just .208.
• Head coach Deanna Gumpf welcomed back 13 letterwinners from a 2015 team that went 42-15 overall and 17-6 in ACC play, advancing to the NCAA Regionals for the 17th consecutive season.
SCOUTING IPFW
• IPFW has a record of 6-18 on the year, and the Mastodons will host Eastern Illinois in a Wednesday (March 16) doubleheader before facing the Falcons in Bloomington two days later.
• The 'Dons, like the Falcons, spent last weekend at the USF Under Armour Showcase. In fact, IPFW played each of the last two weekends in Clearwater.
• The Mastodons went 3-2 last weekend, with wins over UMass-Lowell, Hartford and Northern Kentucky and losses to Western Michigan and East Carolina.
• Sophomore Sierra Miranda is hitting .384 with a team-high 28 hits this season to date, while junior Kelley Pevely is batting .316 and has three of the Mastodons' five homers on the year.
• In the circle, senior Sarah Lazarowich is 3-8 with a 3.53 ERA, while sophomore Demitra Burns has a 3-7 record and an ERA of 5.21.
• Head coach Germaine Fairchild welcomed back a total of six letterwinners from a season ago. The 2016 roster features 10 new players, including six transfers.
• Last year, the 'Dons went 3-45 overall and finished 2-16 in the Summit League.
SCOUTING WESTERN ILLINOIS
• Western Illinois has a record of 6-16 on the year. The Fighting Leathernecks play a single game at Wichita State Tuesday (March 15) and a twinbill at Missouri Wednesday (March 16) before heading to Bloomington.
• WIU is looking to snap a five-game losing streak. After going 3-1 at the Miami Invitational in Oxford, Ohio (March 5-6), Western was 0-5 at last weekend's Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence, Kansas.
• Senior OF Karissa Kouchis is hitting a team-high .392, while freshman IF Payton Abbott is batting .306 on the year. Abbott has scored nine runs and Kouchis eight.
• Freshman Emily Ira has started a team-high 11 games in the circle, while senior Kacyee Hart has made nine starts. Ira has a 3-8 record, a 4.30 ERA and 64 strikeouts. She has seven complete games in those 11 starts.
• Hart is 2-7 with a 6.83 ERA this season to date.
• Head coach Holly Van Vlymen welcomed back 13 players, including six starters, from a year ago.
• Last year, WIU finished with an 18-23 overall mark and an 8-10 Summit League ledger.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE
• Michigan State enters the week with a 14-10 overall record. The Spartans are idle until Saturday morning's BGSU game.
• MSU went 4-1 at a tournament hosted by the College of Charleston last weekend, with wins over Charleston Southern, Chattanooga, Columbia and the host school.
• Sophomore CF Leah Foerster is hitting .451 this season to date, with 20 runs scored and 10 extra-base hits.
• Freshman Celeste Wood and sophomore 1B Sarah Gutknecht are hitting .389 and .375, respectively. Wood has three homers and a team-high 18 RBI, while Gutknecht has five doubles to tie Foerster for the team lead in that department.
• Redshirt sophomore Kristina Zalewski has started 11 games in the circle. She has a 6-6 record, a 2.51 ERA, seven complete games, three saves and 94 strikeouts in 83 innings.
• Head coach Jacquie Joseph returned 12 letterwinners, including five positional starters, from a 2015 team that went 19-36 overall and 4-19 in the Big Ten Conference.
HASHTAGONCEAFALCONALWAYSAFALCON
• Prior to taking the Michigan State job in time for the 1994 season, Jacquie Joseph spent five seasons as head coach at BGSU. The Falcons were 136-133 during that time. Joseph's 1992 team went 37-16 and posted a MAC runner-up finish, setting a school record for overall wins.
• Then, in 1993, the Falcons went 34-18, captured the MAC title and advanced to NCAA Regional play. Joseph was named MAC Coach of the Year that spring.
• BGSU assistant coach Kolleen Kopchak was a player on those last two teams, helping Joseph and the '92 and '93 Falcons to a combined record of 71-34.
SCOUTING UIC
• UIC enters the week with an 11-8 record. The Flames will face IPFW and Indiana on Friday in Bloomington before meeting BGSU on Saturday.
• Last weekend, UIC was a perfect 4-0 at the San Diego Classic, with wins over Utah Valley, San Diego, Portland State and San Diego State.
• Senior OF LaRi Mitchell is hitting .440 on the year, while freshman OF Lexi Watts has a .358 batting average. Both players have scored 14 runs to tie for the team lead.
• Watts (11), Mitchell (10) and sophomore IF Taylor Cairns (11) have combined for all 32 of the team's stolen bases to date.
• Junior Elaine Heflin has been the Flames' starting pitcher for nine of this year's 19 games, and has a 6-4 record, a 2.05 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 65 innings.
• Last spring, head coach Michelle Venturella's team went 24-22 overall and 14-6 in Horizon League play. The Flames tied for the league's regular-season title.
• Venturella welcomed back 13 letterwinners from that 2015 team.
THE SERIES
• BGSU trails Notre Dame, 12-6, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Fighting Irish have won the last seven meetings. UND picked up an 8-2 win over the Falcons last season. BGSU's last win over the Irish was a 5-4 decision on the road on March 30, 1995.
• The Falcons lead IPFW, 8-7, in that series, and BGSU won all three meetings last year after the Mastodons swept a pair of games in 2014. In 2015, as is the case this season, the teams met in the Hoosier Classic before playing a doubleheader the following week. Assuming those games are played, the '16 season marks the sixth-straight year that BG will face IPFW at least twice.
• BG trails Western Illinois, 3-1, in that series, and the teams have not met in over 22 years. The Falcons' lone series win came in 1986, but the Leathernecks posted victories in 1990, '92 and '94.
• The Falcons lead Michigan State, 12-9, but the Spartans won the most recent meeting, in 2009. The previous year, the teams split a pair of meetings, with the Brown and Orange capturing a 2-1 victory in East Lansing.
• BGSU and UIC are tied, 1-1, in that series. The Falcons downed the Flames, 4-3, in a 1986 meeting, but UIC picked up a 2-1 victory in NCAA Regional play in Ann Arbor, Mich., 12 years ago (May 20, 2004).
FALCONS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
As of Tuesday morning (March 15), senior Marisa Shook was ranked 26th in the nation in home runs (seven) and 30th in homers per game (0..33). Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker was 54th in the country in on-base percentage (.543).
FALCON NOTES
• Sophomore Katee Hinkle walked five times and had three sacrifice bunts in last weekend's five games in Clearwater. Hinkle has 12 free passes and five sac bunts this season, tying her for the team lead in both categories. Last year, she walked three times and had two sac bunts.
• Hinkle has reached base nine times in 13 plate appearances (.692) when leading off an inning, while redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker has reached in 6-of-10 such opportunities (.600) and true soph Morgan Evangelista in 5-of-9 leadoff chances (.556).
• Freshman Hannah Giammarino made the first starts of her young career on Saturday (March 12). Giammarino was 0-for-1, but walked twice, in the first game, vs. Hartford. In the second game, she had a pair of hits and drove in the winning run vs. Fairfield. The Amanda, Ohio, native drove in a run with a fifth-inning single. Then, in the eighth, her double scored classmate Alex Sorgi and allowed the Falcons to walk off with a 7-6 win.
• Raker is batting .520 with runners on base this season, having gone 13-of-25. She is .533 (8-of-15) with runners in scoring position.
• Senior Molly Holliday is hitting .538 with runners in scoring position, having gone 7-of-13, while classmate Marisa Shook is 10-for-22 (.455) in such situations.
• BGSU has been outscored, 16-1, in the first inning this season, but the Falcons have scored 100 runs to the opponents' 69 from the second inning on.
• Raker leads the Falcons with eight multiple-hit games this season to date, including in seven of the last nine contests. She is batting .621 (18-of-29) in that nine-game span.
• Shook, who had a total of one RBI during all of last season, leads the Falcons with five multiple-RBI games this spring. She has a team-high 16 RBI in '16.
• Freshman Kiley Sosby has a 4-0 record, a 1.34 ERA and 6.7 strikeouts per seven innings in the month of March. Sosby has four complete games in five starts this month, and has not allowed more than four hits in any appearance.
• Junior Haley Schrock has 22 hits and 30 total bases this season, and is just six hits and three total bases shy of matching her totals for all of last year. She had six doubles in her first two years combined, and has six two-base hits this season.
• Junior Aspen Searle had a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double in the win over Fairfield on Saturday (March 12). Searle has had three three-RBI games in the Falcons' last eight contests.
• Shook entered the 2016 season with career totals of 13 runs scored, three home runs and 20 RBI. This year to date, she has scored 16 runs, has homered seven times and has driven in 16 runs. She leads the team in all three categories.
COMING UP...
Following this week's five games in the state of Indiana, the Falcons will return to Northwest Ohio and unpack their suitcases without having to immediately repack them. BGSU will begin the home portion of the 2016 schedule with five games at Meserve Field next week. The Brown and Orange will face IPFW in a Wednesday (March 23) doubleheader, with first pitch of game one scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Meserve Field. Then, the Falcons will begin Mid-American Conference play with a three-game series vs. Northern Illinois. The teams will play a single game on Friday (March 25) at 3:00 p.m., followed by a 1:00 p.m. twinbill on Saturday (March 26).
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