Falcons Travel to Towson to Take Part in Tiger Clash

Katee Hinkle - Oct 18 2015 - BGSU Softball - MJC

Sophomore Katee Hinkle & the Falcons head to Maryland this weekend

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

March 03, 2016 | Softball

BGSU readies for fourth tournament in as many weekends

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
Tiger Clash \|\| Sat.-Sun., March 5-6 \|\| Towson, Md.
BGSU vs. Morgan State	Sat., March 5 \| 12:00 p.m.
BGSU at Towson	Sat., March 5 \| 2:30 p.m.
BGSU at Towson	Sun., March 6 \| 9:30 a.m.
BGSU vs. Morgan State	Sun., March 6 \| 12:00 p.m.

BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
Releases/Notes/Softball Home Page: BGSU | MSU | Towson
South Alabama Invitational: Tournament Central
Final season, career & game-by-game stats for the 2015 Falcons
Join the Falcon Club Today!

LEADING OFF
The Bowling Green State University softball team hops on the bus for a fourth tournament in as many weekends. The Falcons of head coach Sarah Willis head to Towson, Md., for four games in the Tiger Clash. BGSU will play two games each against Morgan State University and the host school, Towson University. The complete tournament schedule follows...

TIGER CLASH
Saturday, March 5
9:30 a.m. -- Morgan State at Towson
12:00 p.m. -- Bowling Green vs. Morgan State
2:30 p.m. -- Bowling Green at Towson

Sunday, March 6
9:30 a.m. -- Bowling Green at Towson
12:00 p.m. -- Bowling Green vs. Morgan State
2:30 p.m. -- Morgan State at Towson

QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"It will be great to get back on the field this weekend at Towson. We have worked diligently this week to make the corrections we need, and we are eager to put those to the test. Our competitors, Morgan State and Towson, will give us great opportunity to do so. Morgan State is an aggressive team. Our offense will need to stay patient against their pitchers since they seem to have good off speed on the mound.

"Our games against Towson should be highly competitive. They are a very strong team and well balanced with power and speed in their lineup. Our pitchers will need to pitch their game and give a good mix to keep their line up off balance. Offensively, we are looking for our lineup to recognize what their pitchers are doing early. Towson's pitching staff is strong and we will need to adjust from pitcher to pitcher if we are to be successful."

LAST WEEK
The Falcons went 2-3 in five games at the South Alabama Invitational in Mobile, Ala. Both of BGSU's wins were against two-time defending Ivy League champion Dartmouth. Junior Briana Combs and freshman Kiley Sosby each picked up a complete-game win against the Big Green. Senior Marisa Shook hit .357 with an .857 slugging percentage on the weekend, while redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker had an on-base pct. of .700 in Mobile.

ALL SHOOK UP
• Senior Marisa Shook has gotten her 2016 season off to a tremendous start. She hit .357 in five games at the South Alabama Invitational last weekend, after batting .455 in each of the first two weekends of the season. Shook is ranked ninth in the nation in home runs (six), and she is 12th in the country in homers per game (0.46) and 14th in slugging percentage (1.028).

• Shook has six homers this season after hitting a total of three in her first three years with the Falcons. Shook also has 12 runs scored and 12 RBI this spring after totaling two runs and one RBI last year. She had a seven-game hitting streak to begin the year, and has an on-base pct. of .523 and a slugging pct. of 1.028.

• The Maumee, Ohio, native had a total of six hits (none for extra bases) during all of last season, but she has 15 hits, including 10 extra-base hits, this year to date.

• After one at-bat this season, she had matched her RBI total for last year. Shook's first plate appearance of the 2015 season was a solo homer vs. Morehead State.

• She has had five hits, including two homers, every weekend this season.

MORE ABOUT MARISA
Senior Marisa Shook is hitting a team-leading .417 on the season. She hit exactly .455 in each of the first two weekends, going 5-for-11 in the four games in Cleveland as well as in the four contests in Kennesaw, Ga. A week-by-week breakdown of Shook's season so far...
BA AB- R- H-RBI 2B-3B-HR Slg% BB   OB%
Cleveland .455 11- 4- 5- 5   2-0-2 1.182 2 .538
Kennesaw   .455 11- 5- 5- 4   1-0-2   1.091 4 .600
S. Alabama .357 14- 3- 5- 3   1-0-2 .857 1 .438
Total .417 36-12-15-12   4-0-6   1.028 7 .523

SCHROCK STEPS UP
• Junior Haley Schrock has gotten off to a successful start in 2016. The third baseman is hitting .372 on the young season, leading the Falcons in at-bats (43) and hits (16). She is tied for second on the team with three doubles, and has a .488 slugging percentage this year to date.

• Schrock hit .571 at Kennesaw State's Rafter Memorial, going 8-for-14 at the plate with an on-base percentage of .600 and a slugging pct. of .786. She has four multiple-hit games this year, tying Marisa Shook for the team lead, and is the lone Falcon with a pair of three-hit contests.

RAKER RETURNS
• Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker missed all of 2015 due to injury, but has come back strong in '16. Raker hit .400 with an on-base percentage of .700 last weekend in Mobile. She walked four times on the weekend, and leads BGSU with eight walks this season. Raker is hitting .276 on the year, with an OBP of .462, a slugging percentage of .448 and nine runs batted in, ranking second on the team in the latter category.

HINKLE HITS
• Sophomore Katee Hinkle was injured in the opening weekend of 2015, and was sidelined for nearly six weeks. She had a total of four hits on the season. This year, Hinkle has seven hits in the early going. She is batting .280 this spring, and is second on the team with eight runs scored. Hinkle has topped her totals for all of last year in numerous categories...
BA Runs Hits RBI TB BB   Slg% OB%
2015 .083   4 4 4   4   3   .083 .137
2016 .280   8 7 5   8   5   .320 .438

HEAD COACH SARAH WILLIS
• The Cleveland State Dome Invitational marked the collegiate head-coaching debut of Sarah Willis, and the Falcons' 7-1 win over Robert Morris on Feb. 14 was her first victory as a head coach. 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 BGSU coaching staff, while BGSU softball alumna Kolleen Kopchak enters her third season on the staff.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 5-8 on the young season. BGSU opened the year at the CSU Dome Invitational, dropping the first three games before bouncing back for a 7-1 win vs. Robert Morris. The next weekend, the Brown and Orange went 2-2 at the Rafter Memorial, hosted by Kennesaw State. BG defeated Rutgers and Morehead State, but fell to Bradley and the host school.

• Last weekend, BG was 2-3 at the South Alabama Invitational. The Falcons downed two-time defending Ivy League champion Dartmouth by scores of 5-1 and 6-1.

• BGSU has scored 62 runs and allowed 62 runs this season to date. The Falcons have a team batting average of .270 to the opponents' .275.

• Three Falcons have started all 13 games. That trio includes seniors Marina Cobbs and Marisa Shook and junior Haley Schrock. Sophomores Katee Hinkle and Kayla Koch each have made 12 starts, while redshirt soph Chelsea Raker has started 11 games this year to date.

• Shook, as mentioned earlier, leads the team with a .417 batting average. She also paces the Falcons in runs (12), doubles (four), homers (six), runs batted in (12), total bases (37), on-base percentage (.523) and slugging pct. (1.028).

• Schrock is batting .372 on the year, and leads the team with 16 hits and 43 at-bats. She is tied for second on the team with three doubles, and has a .488 slugging pct.

• Sophomore Morgan Evangelista and junior Aspen Searle are hitting .333 and .294, respectively, while Hinkle is batting .280. Evangelista is second on the Falcons with a slugging percentage of .524. Searle, who missed the opening weekend of the season due to injury, is tied for second on the Falcons with three doubles, and has a .471 slugging pct.

• Hinkle is second on the Falcons with eight runs scored, and has an on-base pct. of .438 this season.

• Raker is hitting .276 and is second on the club with nine RBI. She also has a slugging pct. of 448 and an OBP of .462. Raker returned to the field after missing all of the 2015 season due to injury. She was an All-Mid-American Conference Second-Team selection as a freshman in '14.

• Five different pitchers, including two freshmen, have seen action. Junior Briana Combs leads the Falcons with a 3.27 earned-run average, and has allowed opponents to hit just .242 against her.

First-year Falcons Kiley Sosby and Brooke Parker have earned-run averages of 3.65 and 3.92, respectively. Sosby leads the team in wins (three), innings pitched (30 2/3) and strikeouts (25). Parker has made a BG-high eight appearances in the circle this season to date.

• 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 last weekenk.

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

SCOUTING MORGAN STATE
• Morgan State is 2-9 on the young season. The Bears went 1-2 in the season's opening weekend, at the Dot Richardson Tournament in Clermont, Fla. The team's lone win was over MAC member Akron.
• Then, last weekend, MSU posted a 1-5 record at the Diamond 9 Tournament in Orlando, with a victory over Bryant.
• The Bears were picked to finish fifth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's Northern Division, according to the league's preseason poll.
• Junior infielder Audrianna Alvarez is hitting a team-leading .417 on the young season, and also paces the Bears in hits (10), on-base percentage (.481) and slugging pct. (.458).
• In the circle, sophomore Amy Begg and freshman Allison Hartman have earned-run averages of 5.11 and 5.58, respectively. Both have pitched in six games, starting five. Begg leads the Bears with 22 strikeouts in 24-plus innings.
• Last year, MSU finished the season with an overall record of 8-30 and a 7-10 MEAC mark.

SCOUTING TOWSON
• Towson is 11-3 on the season after a 13-3, five-inning win over UMBC in the team's home opener on Tuesday (March 1). The Tigers scored 11 runs in the fourth inning of that victory.
• Towson went 3-1 in each of the first two tournaments of the season, the Charleston Southern Tournament and the Coastal Carolina Classic. Then, last weekend, the Tigers had a 4-1 record at the Winthrop Adidas Invitational.
• The Tigers have scored more than 10 runs five times already this season.
• Sophomore Shelby Stracher is hitting .524 this season, with 19 RBI and a .905 slugging pct. Sophomore Daria Edwards and junior Holiday Cahill are batting .429 and .400, respectively.
• Stracher and Edwards each have homered four times as the Tigers have hit 17 through 14 games this spring.
• Freshman Blakely Thrower has a 3-0 record in the circle, with an ERA of 1.31. Senior Ambar Hickman is 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA. Sophomore Megan Dejter has a 4.24 ERA, and leads the team with seven games started and six complete games.
• Towson was picked to finish fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association in the league's preseason poll.
• Head coach Lisa Costello welcomed back 17 returnees from a 2015 squad that went 35-22 overall and 10-11 in the CAA.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads Towson, 1-0, in the all-time series between the teams. The teams' lone previous meeting came just under 10 years ago (March 17, 2006), and resulted in a 10-0 Falcon victory at the Speedline Invitational in Tampa, Fla.

• The Falcons have never met Morgan State on the softball diamond.

COMING UP...
Following the trip to Maryland, the Falcons will head to Tampa, Fla, to play five games in the USA Under Armour Showcase from March 11-13. BGSU is scheduled to face North Dakota, East Carolina, Hartford, Fairfield and South Dakota at that tourney.

# B G S U F A L C O N S O F T B A L L #